Just Keep Swimming

“No one has the right to sit down and feel hopeless. There’s too much work to do.”

The words of Dorothy Day are what I consider a large struggle for many people. At times it takes all we have to keep going instead of sit down and wallow in self-pity when everything seems to be going wrong. The fact is if we do not overcome that overwhelming feeling, nothing will ever get accomplished. If everyone constantly gave in to that urge to give up our world would be a very different place. We would not have leaders. That is why in our upcoming generation it is so important to realize our place in the world and what we want and need to contribute.

The work to be done for our generation is not a small task. We have grown up in the new age of a technology boom. Things that were new when our parents were our age were quickly replaced by the newer and better. In turn, much of the technology that is common in our everyday lives is even younger than we are. Our generation is often blamed for being too dependent on technology, which may very well be true. The undertaking we are left with is finding a balance between useful technology and useless technology. The difficulty is figuring out when it passes the point of being a beneficial tool and into the realm of a crutch for the lazy to lean on.

Our work is not only in navigating the technology that bombards us day in and day out. It is also our job to find a unique contribution. We all add to the people and tasks we are presented with in a different way. I think our generation struggles with finding their purpose in life. Once we find what we love to do and what we are meant to do we should be using that to make a positive impact. Sometimes, all the work there is to do is get through the day. If it comes to the point where we are so hopeless we cannot even do that, the larger problems that face us will not even begin to be solved.

Do we have the right to feel hopeless? When I think about this, I agree with Dorothy Day. There is too much in this world to explore, learn, and uncover for us to lie down and feel there is nothing of worth for us. The problem with that thought is that we are all weak. We can tell ourselves all we want that there is too much good in life for us to be sad, but that will not stop us from feeling empty anyway. There are times in life when we break. When that happens I think it is okay to take a second and feel broken, as long as it does not last. We cannot stay in that mindset forever. We have to regroup and stand back up, and finish the work to which Day is referring.