“It could be worse…”
As I write this I’m sitting on a somewhat turbulent cross country flight, but it’s on time and headed to the right destination. It could be worse. The last time I flew cross country, it turned into a 27 hour odyssey that somehow involved airports in all four quadrants of the United States. So yeah, it could be worse. But I’ve never really liked that phrase.
Something bad happens, and instead of finding it unacceptable and trying to do something to make it less bad, we’re wired to think up some other even worse hypothetical scenario, then convince ourselves to be happy that the bad thing happened. This kind of rationalization can lead to complacency. And in an arena like political activism, complacency is surrender.
I suppose what I’m trying to say is that in a dark era like this one, it could indeed always be worse – but that doesn’t mean we have to settle for what’s happening. We’re each wired a little differently. Use whatever logic or mindset allows you to keep fighting the good fight. None of what’s happening is acceptable. But if we fight back and make it a little less bad, we’ll always end up being glad we made the effort.
