Completely unreasonable hope
Each week the regular dismal stuff comes through my feeds; the climate emergency is worse than first thought, our politicians are behaving unspeakably badly, another sports hero, iconic artist, beloved children’s entertainer turns out to be rotten.
In the flood it’s easy to feel hopeless.
And then sometimes there’s that close-to-home event that tips you into a spiral of darkness; a friend receives a cruel diagnosis, a violent act happens in your suburb, an old fridge full of used nappies is dumped in the playground in your park.
Inside an angry hopelessness builds like a storm tearing down all optimism around it.
When this happens to me, CERES, like an optimistic friend, becomes a target for my rage.
In my mind we talk…
“Things are so deeply shit and humans so innately greedy, what possible good can you do CERES?” What possible good!? Huh!?
Of course CERES doesn’t answer. CERES makes things worse by obliviously being CERES.
Just like helpful people on public transport, like managers of children’s sports teams, the Melbourne bike path network or the old lady on the next block who planted a hundred metres of median strip with succulents and flowers, CERES keeps finding ways to be unreasonably hopeful.
Where else could a gigantic millipede with old Ford factory robot antennae and legs made of Spirit of Tasmania ropes exist?
Where else could hundreds and hundreds of people can pick tons and tons of backyard olives together and get them pressed into oil?
Where else could the fires burn each solstice for outlandishly optimistic hearts to let go of the past and make wishes for the coming year?
Sometime in 2027 the two millionth school kid will spend a day at CERES catching and releasing mosquito fish, generating electricity by bicycle and recycling paper by hand.
In the two years between then and now many, many thousands of others will have walked through the CERES gates to;
Learn
Grow
Regenerate
Farm
Bake
Eat
Play
Celebrate
And find sanctuary…
It’s about now where CERES’ completely unreasonable hope gets to me and I give up, rage deflated, with a, “Yeah, yeah okay CERES, enough already…huh.
Have a great week
Chris
For the next two weeks CERES is holding its annual appeal – find out more and donate here.
