Something About Hope

By: MJ Saunders '29

I think I am having an identity crisis. For much of my writing life, I have written about major current events. I found researching one story and its impact fascinating, and I enjoyed being able to share my findings in a publication for my peers. I used to passionately churn out stories every few months and enjoy the deep dive. 

However, recently it seems that every story is major. Every story is both earth shattering and then irrelevant by the next day. Every day, checking the news means looking for the next hopeful seed of positivity. Yet somehow, the news gets worse every single day. A former interest of mine, writing about the news, has turned into reading anything other than the news. 

So I want to make a change. I want to intentionally surround myself with media that makes me feel inspired to change the way reading the news once did. I find that connecting with both past and present grounds me. I read classic novels that are tales of trial and tribulation, and more importantly, how to come out on the other side. In the present, I can see the works of the people around me. I can admire and learn from the effort that my peers put into their classes and into their daily lives. Living takes work, yet here we are putting in that work and succeeding. 

Rather than taking the stories from a broader world, I can learn and understand the stories from the life that I experience, and from this little life, I can find comfort in the fast moving world outside my familiar bubble.

Photo courtesy of The Today Show.