A bag of heads are chattering on the sidewalk...
Studs: Don’t despair! HOPE! If you despair you may as well put your head in an oven.
Malthus: Isn’t that where they are taking us? Isn’t that where we are going?
Studs: I think it’s realistic to have hope.
Malthus: You overuse “hope”.
Studs: Sure I do. Hope it’s a nice day. Hope things will get better.
Malthus: We’re heads in a bag. That’s our reality.
Studs: We don’t have to accept that. Look at it this way. If we protest, we’ll feel healthy. Something may even happen to us, biologically.
Malthus: It’s too late.Studs: Why are we born? We're born eventually to die, of course. But what happens between the time we're born and we die? We're born to live. One is a realist if one hopes.
________
Voice-over
As I walked past the bag of heads on the sidewalk, I swear I heard a disembodied voice speaking Studs Terkel’s lines. About hope.
And hearing the word “hope” so often, changed my outlook on the day.
Repeating a word becomes a mantra. It can change our thought. It can change our words. It can change what we do.
This is a pragmatic approach. A pessimistic outlook can lead to depression. An optimistic outlook and belief in hope is helpful to keep us going, right to the end.
Studs: Don’t despair! HOPE! If you despair you may as well put your head in an oven.
Malthus: Isn’t that where they are taking us? Isn’t that where we are going?
Studs: I think it’s realistic to have hope.
Malthus: You overuse “hope”.
Studs: Sure I do. Hope it’s a nice day. Hope things will get better.
Malthus: We’re heads in a bag. That’s our reality.
Studs: We don’t have to accept that. Look at it this way. If we protest, we’ll feel healthy. Something may even happen to us, biologically.
Malthus: It’s too late.Studs: Why are we born? We're born eventually to die, of course. But what happens between the time we're born and we die? We're born to live. One is a realist if one hopes.
________
Voice-over
As I walked past the bag of heads on the sidewalk, I swear I heard a disembodied voice speaking Studs Terkel’s lines. About hope.
And hearing the word “hope” so often, changed my outlook on the day.
Repeating a word becomes a mantra. It can change our thought. It can change our words. It can change what we do.
This is a pragmatic approach. A pessimistic outlook can lead to depression. An optimistic outlook and belief in hope is helpful to keep us going, right to the end.
...
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