A Line from Cinderella

See the world not as it is but how it could be.   Don't you simply love that thought?  That sentence was spoken at the end of a movie I attended recently.  The movie was fun, but those words made me stop and reflect.  How do I see the world?  Do I see it as the news portrays it, or do I see the possibilities?  Do I believe that humanity has the ability to right wrongs?  Or do I believe that there is very little hope for positive change?

Some people would say that to see anything as it could be means we are wearing rose-colored glasses.  We are not living in the real world.  We are living in the land of make believe.  Those good folks mean well.  They are the realists.  They accept the world as they see it.  Full of good and not so good.  To them it would be unrealistic to assume that change might be just around the corner.  It is much simpler to accept what is. If something does change for the better, they are quick to appreciate it.  However, they don't expect that to happen.  They expect life to continue as it is.  Very predictable.  No surprises.  Nothing to upset their applecart.

If I am to believe what I see on the news or read in the daily paper, there is little hope for a brighter future for humanity.  It seems most people prefer to read about disasters.  How people hurt one another.  Governments that cannot  make good decisions for its citizens.  Wars.  Conflicts.  Displaced people.  Hunger.  The list is truly endless.  All of this begs the question-who can we believe?  Who is reporting all the facts?  How much is propaganda?  Who can we trust?  Those in power never actually answer questions. They talk around the question until we are exhausted with listening.  Listening to nothing.  Just a voice that goes on and on.  Believing if they talk long enough, that will be enough.

Of course, we have the option of not reading the papers or watching the evening news or the twenty-four hour news channels.  No one forces us to sit and read or watch.  We do that of our own free will.  When we do that without challenging what we read or see, we are giving over our power for investigation.  We are accepting what others want us to see and believe.  With such easy access to the internet, we have the ability to search out what others are telling us.  However, doing a search takes time and energy.  We have to know where to look.  What the key words are.  How to interpret what we read.  It is much easier to accept what is being reported, isn't it?

Would a newspaper that reported only the good that happens everyday sell?  Or would it go bankrupt?  Would people rush out to purchase a copy just to see what new and wonderful thing humanity has accomplished?  What about a television channel?  Would anyone watch a channel where people were celebrated for the positive ways they are impacting society?  Or would it air a couple of times and then be cancelled?  I think it would be worth a try.  At least people would have a choice.  Maybe a mixture of the good and the not so good would provide a much more balanced approach to life.  Giving hope that even amid challenges,  people are hopeful.

Hopeful.  Yes, people continue to hope for a better world for everyone.  People continue to hope that researchers will find a cure for all illness.  That solutions for peace will become the norm.  That negotations will enable the world to be free from nuclear war.  That understanding will replace hostility.   What a blessing to be hopeful.  To know that the power for change is more than a possibility.  It is real. People can take that which needs to change, and change it.  Time is on our side.  Hope is within us.

Seeing the world not as it is but as it can be provides the driving force to move forward.  To embrace life.  To reach beyond ourselves and toward others.  To refuse to accept that this is the best it can be.  To move outside the security of the box we constructed around ourselves into the bigger world where we might be hurt.  To learn to trust again. To see what must change and become the one who takes the lead.  To joyfully embrace this one shot we are given.

May those who dream continue to see how it can be.  And may they move us along with them to that dream that refuses to be squelched.