The Future: Hopeful or Hopeless?

I recently saw an article that talked about how our new president has been “gaslighting” America into believing what he wants us to believe. The phrase was taken from a movie where a lady by the name of Bella is being terrorized by a man named Jack who keeps blaming her for misplacing household items while he hides them himself and the only reason she doesn’t lose her mind is because she can see Jack hide the items in the light of a gas lamp. The article then goes on to talk about how Trump is doing the exact same thing. He claims news he doesn’t agree with is fake news, he constantly tweets outrageous things on twitter and posts on social media in general, and in every interview he spreads his misinformation through coercion. The main way he has done this is through putting into question what we see as the truth constantly enough that we have begun to put it into question in our own minds and, thus, are being gaslighted since we are questioning our own reality through this spread of misinformation. The article then goes on to say there’s hope as long as we don’t lose our heads and start believing everything we hear from him, but is there really? I mean, with political partisanship for the republicans followed by the easily persuaded of America spreading this misinformation, is there really hope for reclaiming our reality without the politics of the Trump administration stopping anyone who tries at every turn? I know I would never just agree with everything someone says just because of a title, but how many people become followers of anyone and just go with the crowd and don’t bother to question anything? Is there really hope as long as people remain gullible and docile about what is done in the Federal Government? Absolutely not. People need to open their eyes and see just how biased and baseless the current president is with most of his policies and actions that he doesn't even consider the repercussions for whenever he so much as moves.

Recent News

Obviously, there have been several news stories posted today with presidential controversy, foreign relations, etc.  However, one that struck me with special interest was a story about the reaction of the Ohio State football team to their rejection from the college national championship playoffs. The article starts by presenting senior linebacker Chris Worley, trying to keep calm after the fact of OSU not being selected for the playoffs. He's trying to listen to music, despite his phone blowing up and his parents ranting to him about how they should've selected his team. Instead of getting mad with them, however, Worley attempts to calm them all down by just telling them to relax and that his team was in a good position and was going to face a good team in the cotton bowl game. What Worley said next to a reporter was what really gained my interest:

"So the biggest thing, situations like this, a lot of people, they harp on the negatives, but they don't realize the blessings that God has put in front of them. I was trying to get him to realize that he's blessed, his son is blessed to be in this position. And whatever comes out the other side of it, the only thing we can do is fight."

That's what got my attention, his use of personal perseverance on others. Just by telling his friends and family that he was fine with his current conditions and giving a specific reason for them caused everyone to calm down with him. This then rubbed off on Worley's coach, Urban Meyer, who knew that his team was capable and could have made a great contender for the championship. As Urban was talking to the press about how he knew this was true, Worley was in the back. This caused Meyer to focus on not this little decision, but the big picture which allowed him to show the press his calm side on the subject and that the team was still a great team regardless of what a boardroom had to say. This spoke volumes to me, and showed me that even in the hardest of time there is still the ability to push through it.