Despite the year’s challenges, we are hopeful that 2025 will bring new waves of opportunity to make the world a better place.
Optimism is one of our values here at Impact Engine, and one we find crucial to be intentional about, especially during trying times. As this year comes to an end and a new one begins, we are sharing a list of small things that give us hope, and support you to find your own.
Ander: The new Netflix documentary Will & Harper - Despite what the modern world tells us, humans have an unique ability to connect, emphasize, and love each other no matter how foreign a situation might appear.
Cara: From Ann Friedman:
““Hang out with a kid…Their enthusiasm for the tiniest thing is a microdose of hope. They are growing, so is everything else.””
Demetrius: From Michelle Obama:
““So you may not always have a comfortable life. And you will not always be able to solve all the world’s problems all at once. But don’t ever underestimate the impact you can have, because history has shown us that courage can be contagious, and hope can take on a life of its own.””
Jessica: From The Marginalian:
““Don’t just resist cynicism — fight it actively. Fight it in yourself, for this ungainly beast lies dormant in each of us, and counter it in those you love and engage with, by modeling its opposite. Cynicism often masquerades as nobler faculties and dispositions, but is categorically inferior.…Like all forms of destruction, cynicism is infinitely easier and lazier than construction. There is nothing more difficult yet more gratifying in our society than living with sincerity and acting from a place of largehearted, constructive, rational faith in the human spirit, continually bending toward growth and betterment. This remains the most potent antidote to cynicism. Today, especially, it is an act of courage and resistance.””
Leslie: Puerto Rican alternative hip hop band Calle 13’s song La Vuelta al Mundo:
Maggie: From Soul of a Citizen: Living With Conviction in a Cynical Time by Paul Rogat Loeb:
““We all have our own distinct gifts, strengths, and opportunities to make our lives count. No one person is responsible for healing all the wounds of the world. The challenge is to ask what we want to stand for, and to do our best to act on our beliefs. For our choices will create the world that we pass on.””
Mohit: I have been reading this poem by the Dalai Lama - Never Give Up.
“No matter what is going on, never give up.
Develop the heart.
Too much energy in your country is spent developing the mind instead of the heart.
Be compassionate, not just to your friends, but to everyone.
Work for peace in your heart and in the world.
Work for peace and I say again, never give up.
No matter what is happening, no matter what is going on around you, never give up.”
Priya: From What If We Get It Right: Visions of Climate by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson:
““Sometimes the bravest thing we can do while facing an existential crisis is imagine life on the other side.””
Rahul: A useful reminder that we can decide how much optimism we want to bring to bear:
“I’m a pessimist because of intelligence, but an optimist because of will.””
Roger: Amanda Gorman, excerpt from “An Ode We Owe”,
“For preserving the earth isn’t a battle too large
To win, but a blessing too large to lose.
This is the most pressing truth:
That Our people have only one planet to call home
And our planet has only one people to call its own.
We can either divide and be conquered by the few,
Or we can decide to conquer the future,
And say that today a new dawn we wrote,
Say that as long as we have humanity,
We will forever have hope.”
Sophia: I come back to this piece on hope often. It’s a good reminder that in spite of all we hear and see that is negative in the world, we must not lose hope:
““It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.””
Tasha: I share this quote with my students every year since it really captures the entrepreneurial spirit:
““Pessimists are usually right and optimists are usually wrong but all the great changes have been accomplished by optimists.””