Step positively into the future

#WATWB Step positively into the future

36 Replies

I love to share good news and try to have a positive, though realistic, outlook on life and the world. It’s the reason I join in with the We Are the World Blogfest (#WATWB) on the last Friday of each month. If you like to spread good news, you can join in too. The more the merrier.

Our newsfeeds often overflow with disasters and tragedies of all sizes, from large to small, that may overwhelm us with feelings of hopelessness and a loss of faith in the goodness of humanity. WATWB aims to combat that feeling with good news stories. They say, “There are many an oasis of love and light out there, stories that show compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. Sharing these stories increases our awareness of hope in our increasingly dark world.”

This month I am sharing a story that says that while humans may be pessimistic by nature, the outlook for the future is not all bad. We are confronted daily with damage that we humans have wrought upon our Earth. Can we be meliorists and believe that we can also change the world for better? I’m certainly hoping so.

The article, Why we see the past through rose-coloured glasses, but not the future, reports the views of Steven Pinker, a Harvard psychologist (also referred to in the article to which I linked above). Pinker says that we are losing perspective and failing to make decisions that will positively impact our future. He says that many things now are much better than they were in the past; for example, life expectancy, infant mortality, fewer people living in poverty, higher rates of literacy worldwide. His views are supported by many other researchers who all agree that we need to have hope, that pessimism will not carry us forward, that we need to take actions to create a positive future.

I think we need to be meliorists and believe we can change the world for the better and take steps to ensure it is so. Spreading good news and combating the darkness through projects such as WATWB is one small contribution we can make.

Click here to read the whole article.

If you would like to join in with #WATWB, here are the guidelines:

1. Keep your post to Below 500 words, as much as possible.

2. Link to a human news story on your blog, one that shows love, humanity, and brotherhood. Paste in an excerpt and tell us why it touched you. The Link is important, because it actually makes us look through news to find the positive ones to post.

3. No story is too big or small, as long as it Goes Beyond religion and politics, into the core of humanity.

4. Place the WE ARE THE WORLD badge or banner on your Post and your Sidebar. Some of you have already done so, this is just a gentle reminder for the others.

5. Help us spread the word on social media. Feel free to tweet, share using the #WATWB hashtag to help us trend!

Tweets, Facebook shares, Pins, Instagram, G+ shares using the #WATWB hashtag through the month most welcome. We’ll try and follow and share all those who post on the #WATWB hashtag, and we encourage you to do the same.

The co-hosts for this month are:

Sylvia Stein

Eric Lahti

Shilpa Garg

Lizbeth Hartz

Please pop over to their blogs to read their stories, comment and share.

Click here to join in and enter your link on the Facebook page. The bigger the #WATWB group each month, the greater the joy!

Thank you blog post

Thank you for reading. I appreciate your comments. Please share your thoughts.

36 thoughts on “#WATWB Step positively into the future”

  2. Jim Borden

    thanks for sharing the article by Pinker. I started to read his book, Better Angels of Our Nature, but had trouble getting into it. May need to revisit it. I guess I’m an eternal optimist, perhaps a bit naive as well…

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  3. Anne Goodwin (Annecdotist)

    I haven’t read the article but will comment anyway (isn’t what social media is about, the uninformed blasting their views about, not you, of course) but isn’t it possible that things ARE better than they’ve ever been but WILL nevertheless get worse. I’m applying that to my own life and the planet. And politics: viewing the past through rose-tinted glasses has brought us Brexit and other populist movements that will bring about our ruin. Still I’m smiling ;-).

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    1. Norah Post author

      I agree, Anne. I think it is possible that things ARE better but that they will also get worse. Scary times we live in. I hope we can make it out the other side okay.

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  4. Sarah Brentyn

    This is a tough one for me. But I do agree that actions taken to create a positive future are crucial. I’m all for playing my part in making the world a better place, I just don’t always have the best outlook. I’m a bit of a pessimist, as you know, but I also agree with your statement that pessimism will not carry us forward. Thanks for sharing this. ❤️

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    2. Norah Post author

      I know, Sarah. We’re living in difficult times. While some things have improved, others appear to be sliding. While I hope we can carry ourselves forward, I’m not certain that we’ll not soon be hit by a tsunami of our own creation.

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  5. CarolCooks2

    A lovely positive post and something we all need., Norah….Give a stranger one of your smiles, it mabe the only sunshine he sees today…My mum always used to tell us to smile and the world smiles back…A lovely post 🙂 x

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  6. dgkaye

    Excellent share Norah. Change in attitude is must as important as change in our environmental saving practices. Great article, and loved this quote – “”To reduce it to simple terms: ‘death only has to win once, life has to win every day’.” ❤

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  7. Debbie D.

    It’s easy to idealize the past and remember only the good. I agree that much has improved for modern society, but obviously, other things are much worse. A realistic attitude is the best approach. It’s encouraging to see young people like Greta Thunberg spark worldwide movements for positive change.

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    1. Norah Post author

      I agree with you about a realistic attitude, Debbie, and also about Greta. We do need people who are not afraid to speak up and get the action started.

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  9. bikerchick57

    Norah, your post and the linked article comes at a time when our workplace is engaged in a positivity challenge. Positivity, not pessimism, make for a happier self, happier life and happier workplace. It’s truly something we need more of in this world, as human beings, because we do tend to gravitate toward negative events. It has affected our politics and citizens in the US very deeply. If everyone had a positive attitude here, we would be more cooperative and reasonable, rather than divisive and angry. Thanks for sharing this for September’s #WATWB!

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    1. Norah Post author

      Thank you so much for your wonderful comment after reading my post, Mary. I love your final thought, that “If everyone had a positive attitude here, we would be more cooperative and reasonable, rather than divisive and angry.” How wonderful that would be.

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    1. Norah Post author

      I agree, Charli. While it is great to see the children inspired to act, it is sad to see them filled with fear and anger at the past. We are products of our times. We need to act for the future in positive ways.

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  11. roughwighting

    Yes I’ve heard this too, and it’s a good reminder. I think we do lose perspective of how much better it is, really, than ‘back then.’ Not to say that we shouldn’t keep working at making the world even better, year by year.

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  12. Susan Scott

    Thanks Norah – an encouraging and optimistic post but while infancy deaths are not as dreadful as they were in the past, and medicine and other advances in the sciences have improved our quality of life at least in the western world, I am not optimistic about the world. I enjoyed the back story about the Greeks. I keep death alive on my left shoulder and this is not being morbid or deliberately provocative. Yes I agree the media has a lot to do with the spread of lousy news. Do you remember The Christian Monitor? A newspaper from a long time ago that wrote only good news… I’m not surprised that it had to fold. Sad to say. But what I do see and acknowledge is the ordinary man woman and child in our everyday lives taking steps or doing some sort of action to make the world just that little bit better. As you do, with your series on education … Thank you and have a lovely weekend 🙂

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    1. Norah Post author

      Thank you, Susan. I agree that it is difficult to stay positive, but it makes me very sad when people have no hope for the future and pass that fear on to our children. Children especially, I think, need to have positive people around them who encourage and inspire them. Fear doesn’t accomplish anything except create more fear. Action for a more positive future is what we need. If we look beyond the media to the ordinary man, woman and child who are doing good things as you describe, we can feel uplifted. Thank you for your supportive comment.

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      1. Susan Scott

        Thanks Norah, yes fear begets fear – and its #WATWB posts that inspire us. We should know by now that those in power use the divide and rule tactic to keep the population subdued and in fear, and it’s up to us to educate our children so that they can think for themselves and come up with the brilliant solutions that they do – in many ways they educate us.

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