The economy is collapsing at a rate not seen since the Great Depression of the Twentieth Century.
The war in Iraq drags on, and people keep dying.
We're not gonna get single payer healthcare, and this is probably our last chance for a long time.
It's easy to get bummed about the world, when the news we're getting makes it look like everything is reducing itself to a mound of rubble. But you know what? We really don't have it that bad, and I think on this gorgeous, springlike day (at least in NYC)... it's time to pause and realize that there's good stuff happening in the world. Read on for a few random things that gave me hope today...
1. A new golden age of interstellar discovery just began.
The first thing that gave me hope today is the Kepler space telescope, which will search our galactic neighborhood of the Milky Way for earth-like, habitable worlds. Within three years, we may have the answer to that deepest, most burning question in all of human history: are we alone? Do you realize this? We are alive at the moment in human history when we will almost certainly know. As the CNN article above notes, the mission is looking for another "pale blue dot." For those who don't know, that's a reference to Carl Sagan's commentary on this photo:
Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.
- Carl Sagan
Imagine the thrill of finding another pale blue dot, suspended in a vast black nothing. We won't know at first whether there are other sentient beings there, themselves gazing up at a black and star-speckled sky wondering if they are alone. But in finding that pale blue dot, we'll know that there's a good chance we're not alone. And on further observation, we'll know. What might it do for human unity to know that there are others out there? What might it do for our understanding of our place in the universe? The enormous, profound implications of having these answers - and the new round of questions those answers will give rise to - are a source of inspiration to me. How awesome to be around for this!
2. I was inconvenienced by a construction project.
Amid all the tanking economic numbers, there have been a number of construction projects idled across New York City. This is alarming, of course. But today, as I was just trying to get to my doctor's office for [censored], I found that I had to walk around a barrier, across 8th Avenue, up a block, back down and around another barrier just to get to the freakin' doctor's office, and I was already late. As my rage built up and began to emerge in a stream of muttered words-of-a-certain-nature, something odd happened - my rage boiled over into hope.
Because I realized that this construction project hadn't inconvenienced me since about November. Maybe they stopped for the winter. Or maybe they couldn't get a construction loan. But they were back. At least one project is proceeding, and in my little world, that's a hopeful sign.
3. There is a compound that could create a whole new age of treatments for cancer, influenza, hemorrhagic fevers, HIV, Hepatitis, and a number of other conditions. ONE medicine.
It's called bavituximab, and it's a monoclonal antibody that shows great promise in a number of areas. It works by targeting a certain type of protein called phosphatidylserine (PS) that is usually present on the inside of cells but which flips to the outside of cells that are infected by certain viruses and certain blood cells feeding cancerous tumors. This targeting mechanism is potentially revolutionary. Once bavituximab encounters exposed PS, it binds to it, and it marks that cell for destruction by the immune system. In this way, bavituximab targets only cells that are infected by certain viruses or that serve in delivering blood to cancerous cells.
Here is a press release describing how bavituximab works against cancer. Here is a similar release describing how it works against viruses. There's a video, too, and that's darn cool. Of course these are all press releases from the company actually developing the medicine, so they have a vested interest in making it sound good. But there's actually a ton of research supporting this approach and what we're seeing is the end stage of almost two decades of research on this potentially revolutionary treatment.
For a long, well-argued thread on anti-PS treatments as it pertains to HIV (and, therefore, to many other viruses that evade the immune system by flipping PS), check out this link. The user named "veritas" undergoes some pretty fierce cross-examination and supports his arguments very well. [And no, I'm not veritas.]
4. It's 67 degrees and beautiful.
Really, what else could one ask for than a gorgeous day like today? When it really comes down to it, the economy will carry on. Sure, things will suck along the way. I've made $954 for all of 2009 thus far. I'm living on a friend's couch in New York City, where you are only as cool as your apartment. Yes, things aren't easy. But the world is turning, folks, and the sun is rising and spring is almost here. There is always suffering and there is always struggle - and there is always work to be done. Sometimes there's more suffering and struggle and work to do than at other times. But we have a President and Congress who are at least better than the old ones - and buildings are still being built, and discoveries are still being made, and wonderful things are still able to happen not just to all of us, but to each of us individually.
So for a moment every day, starting today, forget that the stock market is in meltdown. For a moment every day, forget that Rush Limbaugh exists. For a moment every day, forget about healthcare and joblessness. Reflect on the wonder of our place in the universe, and the miracles that are possible when we invest in solving problems. Reflect on the beauty of a day or a moment, and the beauty and potential of your own body and your own life. Then rejoin the fight, renewed and inspired by your mental vacation.
Because, at the end of the day, there's plenty of stuff to give us hope, and each of our days can suck a whole lot less if we keep that in mind.
So - get outside and enjoy the day, like I'm about to do! In the comments, go ahead and share something that gives YOU hope in these uncertain times in our already-uncertain world. I'll be back to read and answer any comments later, after going for a walk to enjoy the day!