Looking for hope in all the wrong places...

 It has been a challenging couple of months.  I am afraid I did fall into the trap of despair, briefly.  But I'm back! And I've put some post it notes on my desk to remind me to not go so long without writing something positive.  So here goes.

I just finished reading An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960's by Doris Kearns

This book was a fascinating account of the behind the scenes political activities focused on the speech writing of Dick Goodwin for JFK, LBJ, Eugene McCarthy, and RFK.  I learned so much about the times I lived through, but was fairly young at the time.  Aware of many of the events, but just in reading this book, how many of the readers here know just how much LBJ was responsible for?  I think too many of us associate him with the escalation of the Vietnam War and ignore the amount of social change he helped usher through Congress and especially the 89th Congress.  

Here's a brief list:

• NASA - chief legislative leader for creation of NASA in 1958
• Civil Rights Act - 1964
• Voting Rights Act - 1965
• Fair Housing Act - 1968
• Medicare and Medicaid - 1965
• Higher Education Act - 1965 that many of us who had work-study in college benefited from
• Immigration and Nationality Act - 1965
• Created Head Start in May 1965
• and more

And so much social upheaval.  The riots, the assassinations, the missed opportunities because of the assassinations.  Reading about the pettiness of previous political leaders, puts a bit of perspective on the current outrageous behavior of he who will not be named.  Nor will I forget that many of these programs are being dismantled by SCOTUS.  However, the pendulum may swing back.  It is a fascinating account and worth spending time to read just how much was accomplished.

We are, of course, looking for those who will lead us out of the morass we are living in.  I think if you have a chance to read something you are most unlikely to see out on your own, I recommend Pope Leo's first encyclical.  Bishop Marianne Budde has a piece in her Substack - Reflections on Pope Leo's First Encyclical. Truth has been in the news recently with the Scott Pelley episode with 60 Minutes and his revelation about being pressured to present untrue information.  So this section jumped out at me:

"The search for truth is an essential element of democracy, which is itself a means of contributing to the common good. When questions about what is true lose their appeal, and a pragmatism takes hold that is content with what appears useful or effective, then democratic life is weakened. After all, democracy does not consist of rules and procedures alone, but above all of a solid concordance with the facts and a genuine commitment to the good of individuals and society as a whole. Indifference to the truth leads, slowly but surely, to a descent into totalitarianism. As the philosopher Hannah Arendt wrote, the ideal subjects of such regimes are not so much those who are ideologically convinced, but rather “people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards of thought) no longer exist.” 

There are more statements in the encyclical, "Magnifica humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence" and it worth taking the time to read.  I doubt very many people have ever read papal encyclicals in the past, but Pope Leo is someone who I believe will make a very visible difference in our lifetimes. 

There are 153 days until the November election.  What is giving you hope?  What are you doing currently to contribute to the "common good"?   And what are you reading that is providing you with sustenance during these challenging times?  Feel free to share in the Comments section.