Even now, we must hold on to hope

It was an awful weekend of an awful year. In addition to the white supremacist terrorist attack in Buffalo, another mass shooting took place down the road from us in Laguna Woods. Another hate-fueled man drove hundreds of miles to kill innocent people because of who they are.

It’s easy to fall into despair at times like these. That’s the way my son felt today. He drives past the church in Laguna Woods every day on his way to the gym where he works out. Today, that church parking lot was packed with media vans and sheriff’s department vehicles. He told me he feels a “darkness” is overcoming the world. As a 24-year-old, he’s lived through 9/11, three impeachments, two economic crashes, a pandemic, an insurrection, and non-stop war. The 21st century has been a tunnel with no light at the end of it.

But I saw a TikTok video today that lifted my spirits by user sietesays. As I listened to it, I thought of the speech Charlie Chaplin’s character says in The Great Dictator:

To those who can hear me, I say — do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed — the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.