Take heart. Things are indeed better for many people at a global scale. Perhaps not you and I today, just yet, but millions of humans are safer and happier now than a short time ago.

I know it’s of little comfort when you’re suffering, but consider how many fewer children today live in poverty, people who are no longer starving, the freed slaves and refugees now building new lives, the millions alive who would have fallen to diseases like malaria and AIDS or armed conflicts and environmental disasters. Also consider the millions who now have access to education and basic necessities like drinkable water and basic healthcare.

Yes, we have a climate crisis and great tragedies and injustices remain. And yes, citizens of many developed nations are less secure and prosperous than our parents due to various factors (namely backward policies targeting specific groups like women, dismantling most social safety nets, feeding hyperbolic economic disparity, etc).

BUT there are massive sociopolitical shifts on the horizon in these countries as well, which promise to restore the security and well-being that’s been stripped away in the past half century. And it will arise from solidarity and organization.

I’d venture to say these changes are all but inevitable (assuming we don’t completely fuck up next year) because these changes are ultimately bound to generational attitudes that have always predicted the sociopolitical tide. So I’d encourage you to not sink just yet, because it’s a tide that will soon raise your boat as well.

We can hasten this better tomorrow by voting, organizing, and getting others to do the same. We can delay it by isolating, wallowing, or convincing others there’s no point. But this new day is coming regardless. We only control when.

Don’t despair. We’re closer to a brighter future now than we’ve ever been, and we’ll get there sooner with your help.