You are right, of course. This is why I tried to make it clear I was ranting, and making no claim to be an expert on the subject matter. I was just angry and needed to vent.
All that being said, I do still believe there are things we can do, but they will probably take a generation of people working together to make them happen. We’re poised at the precipice of a new world in this country, and much of the rest of the world is also ready to enter a new era. The question is, what can we do to make sure we soar instead of fall when we launch into the unknown?
I believe art can save us. Certainly not in any immediate sense, but over time? Art will be what sways the human spirit, what leads us to becoming more loving, more accepting, more willing to work together.
And if it takes fifty years, a hundred, two hundred, a thousand? It’s still worth the effort. Maybe I can’t affect change in Chechnya right now, and maybe I never will, but I hope I can affect those who read my work and that they will, in turn, affect others, and eventually the momentum gained by this movement will sweep over the world.
And maybe, when those thousand years are up and we’ve survived, humanity will finally be at peace.
It’s idealism, I know, but I don’t expect miracles tomorrow. What I expect is hard work, and I’m willing to do my share.
