Discussion on AlexSteffen's article from Worldchanging, "What is your holiday light? What gives you hope?"

(For source link and further discussion, see www.worldchanging.com/archives/007705.html.)

Thanks, Alex!

What's your holiday light? What gives you hope?

Alex Steffen
December 21, 2007 9:10 AM

Tomorrow is Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, a time marked by many traditions as the changing of the old year for the new, of gift-giving and the making of resolutions... and, above all, as it is the darkest day of the year, by the lighting of lights.

In a great many ways, these are dark days for our planet as a whole. Yet, there are some real reasons for optimism and hope. There are lights in that darkness.

For me, working on Worldchanging offers almost daily reasons for hopefulness (as well as plenty of time spent looking into the gloom -- I've joked that we're in the business of lighting candles and cursing the damn darkness anyway). Perhaps the brightest light, for me, is simply the sense I get that a movement towards planetary sanity is in fact beginning to cohere. The people I meet who are working to make that movement a reality, especially the younger people -- the ones who will have to live in the future we're choosing now -- are exceptional folks, smart and committed and creative and funny. Knowing that so many great folks are out there bucks up my courage, and knowing that so many of you read Worldchanging inspires my work. I'd bet my teammates would say the same.

But what about you? What light cheers you on in this dark time? What about your life or work or the example of others or the world at large makes you merry and full of hope?