I agree. I had the same sentiments…in the early 1970s. Before the phrase ‘New Age’ was even invented the Age of Aquarius was dawning! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06X5HYynP5E)

We were young and SO hopeful.

I never gave up that hope. But, beware all that optimism! It too easily leads to cynicism.

Like you, I see the change in little things everywhere. When my friends tell me how great it was ‘back in the day,’ I remind them of the not-so-great things we lived through but have forgotten we did.

Things like distressingly casual racism. Systemic homophobia. Debilitating pollution…everywhere, water, air, even indoor public spaces were a fog of cigarette smoke. Deteriorating inner cities. Inflation (they called in stagflation because the economy was stagnant, but prices were soaring). Crime and murder rates everywhere going up up up! (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_the_United_States#/media/File:Property_Crime_Rates_in_the_United_States.svg) Even in sunny little San Diego unless you were looking for trouble you didn’t go downtown after 10 pm. And the NYC subway? It was a graffiti-smeared hellhole.

I do not miss the 70s. (And neither should anyone else with a working memory of it.)

The point I’m taking too long to get to is that for many of my friends the rampant optimism of our youth led to a poisoned pessimism. They were so hopeful. But the world didn’t change fast enough for them, so they hunkered down behind a protective wall of cynicism.

So, be wary of optimism. But embrace the work! There is a LONG way to go and yes, you are right, you can’t change minds, but you can change the world by living in it not as it is, but AS YOU WISH IT TO BE. (Kind of like, ‘do unto others as you would have others do unto you,’ only, yeah…you get it.)

Thanks for the read! Truly.