How do you cross the Sad Gap?

In which John tells the story of how he escaped the despair of feeling like nothing could ever be done about anything, and how in learning more, he became more optimistic about the future.

Some other strategies for crossing the sad gap that stood out to me in comments to Hank's video:

1. There is very little evil - Almost no one thinks they are evil, or that their beliefs or policies are malicious. If you had a different life, you'd have different values.

2. Listen to the people who are working on solving the problem and research their past successes. There are many ways in which the world is better than it was a generation ago. Find the people who are helping to drive these successes and pay attention to them. Pay attention as well to the people who are calling out the problems we face in new ways that will help us to tackle them better.

3. Connect with individuals: Building relationships is both a way to cross the sad gap (because you'll find that you're working/thinking/volunteering with people who are also trying to solve the same problems that are important to you) and a way to learn more deeply about the challenges you care about.

4. Believe in the possibility of humanity. Look to the moments when we have shown real solidarity and taken meaningful steps to make the world suck less. Look to the way the people of Damascus responded to the plague, or the ways systems have been built to better serve our shared needs.

5. You can only have one first priority: This is what inspired today's video!

6. Be grateful for the work of others. On the problems you don’t have time to interface with deeply, do not think “this problem will solve itself” think “there are wonderful people who I trust to work on this.”



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