“From a Distance”– Currently at the West End Gallery
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The essence of optimism is that it takes no account of the present, but it is a source of inspiration, of vitality and hope where others have resigned; it enables a man to hold his head high, to claim the future for himself and not to abandon it to his enemy.
–Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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Yesterday, for the first time in many moons, I felt a sensation that seemed distinctly out of place for the feelings that have been swirling around inside me lately. It was a twinge, a pang, a fleeting pulse of optimism.
I think it was the announcement of Kamala Harris as Joe Biden‘s running mate that did it. I had been expecting– and hoping– that she would be the pick. The daughter of immigrants, she’s smart, tough, and forward looking but also warm and engaging. What’s not to like?
But even expecting it, I was surprised at my own reaction to the announcement. It made me happy in a way that I haven’t felt in some time.
Optimistic.
It took a while to recognize this long lost feeling, this optimism. It’s been gone so it seems almost foreign and I have found myself more apt to use words like pessimism and cynicism to describe my feelings about the future.
But the truth be told, I kind of like it.
I like the idea that there are responsible adults stepping up to face the multitude of problems facing us at this time. As daunting as the situation, this little bit of newfound optimism makes me think we can find solutions going into the future.
It’s like the torch on the Statue of Liberty has been dark for the past four years– it sure feels that way— and there’s talk that it might be set ablaze again. Eyes look up again.
Like I said, I like this feeling but it still makes me a bit nervous. I fear that others who feel the same thing will think that this optimism somehow replaces the need for hard work and attention to detail in the coming months.
Pay attention. Dot your i’s and cross your t’s, people. Make sure you’re registered and vote even if it means standing in line for hour upon hour.
This is the most critical election of our lives. That is not hyperbole.
We are still down in a dark pit but at least our eyes are looking up a bit now. And there is light up there.
Like the great Curtis Mayfield song they used after introducing Biden and Kamala’s partnership, let’s Move On Up.
Have a good day and keep your eyes up.
PS: The quote at the top is from Dietrich Bonhoefer, who wrote an essay that I used in a blog post, On Stupidity, which is easily my most visited post.
Redtree Times 
Biden’s introduction of Harris and her comments were in many ways merely standard, ordinary, political fare. But I think it was the stark relief (relief being the operative word here) between their words and the oh so commonplace utterances routinely heard from the mouth of our current President, that made those words seem extraordinary.
So between now and November 3rd, and even though, as Biff Rose once wrote, “I’m bound and determined to be cliche free”, I’m knocking on wood! I’m trying not to count my chickens before they hatch! I’m going to make sure I don’t leave my hat on a bed! and I’m going to be especially careful not to walk under any ladders!
All that being said Gary, I agree with you, there was a return of that feeling of hope, a slight stirring.
Fingers crossed and all other rules being followed, perhaps come that fateful day in November, we can join Tiny Tim in singing,
Hadn’t heard his version. Well, maybe I did and have just let it fade out of memory. But whatever the case, I will gladly sing along with Tiny Tim in November if we can endure the onslaught. Tiny Tim appeared at a rural night club, long defunct now, near me when I was in high school in the mid 70’s. A guy I knew was a bouncer/security there and said that Tiny Tim, unlike many performers he had worked with during that time, was great to everyone there, very funny and exceedingly kind. Quite a character.
Like most people at the time I was mostly bewildered by TIny, but Bob Dylan, who himself had a deep knowledge of The Great American Songbook had this to say about him when introducing Tip Toe Through the Tulips during a segment of his wonderful show Theme Time Radio:
“Tiny Tim was a character who played around Greenwich Village in the Fifties and Sixties. And a lot of people just think that he was a joke. But I’ll tell ya, no one knew more about old music than Tiny Tim did. He studied it and he lived it. He knew all the songs that only existed as sheet music. When he passed away, we lost a national treasure.”
Yes, I had heard that before. I think Dylan wrote about him in his autobiography. For what it’s worth, it still brings a smile to my face when I hear Tiny Tim.
Same here, now.
As Dylan would say, I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now!
Yesterday I learned that the torch of the Statue of Liberty was introduced in 1876 at the World’s Fair. Such a time an era place of Industrial and Humanitarian progress in American history(for the time, of course). I am optimistic that we will feel the warmth of the torch again soon 🙂