Hope

by Daniel Jubelirer Coaching

Last night, after feeling pretty sad and adrift after watching the Democratic convention and thinking about larger systemic issues in our society not being addressed, I tuned into Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s instagram live Q&A. I submitted a question, which I was delighted she answered 😍!

My post with her response was shared over 600 times on Facebook. Clearly this wisdom resonated with a lot of people, so I’m sharing what she said below 🙂 

I asked, “𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬?”

I fucking LOVED her answer, and typed up as much of it live as I could. Here it is:

“𝐇𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞. We are taught we have to find hope in things… we search for it. Oh, there’s hope. I found it. But I don’t think of hope that way.

Hope is a practice, a discipline. This is something Mariame Kaba, a prison abolitionist, has talked about. Hope is something each and every one of us has to create, to engender, through our actions. It builds on itself.

Maybe the thing we do to create hope is to make sure Biden wins in November so we stop this bleeding and this slide into fascism.

Or maybe, if electoral politics isn’t what you wanna make your focus, hope is in the poetry that you write. Maybe you create hope in creating a pick up basketball league for kids in your neighborhood. Maybe hope is in your friendships. If you’re a man, maybe creating hope is being a good, upright, decent man that stands up for women and LBGTQ people. Maybe hope is using your privilege to interrupt cycles of violence.
𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠, ‘𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞’ 𝐰𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐚𝐬𝐤 ‘𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐁𝐄 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞’ 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞. In how we drink our coffee at the bodega each morning.

So, that is all! Let’s go win this, let’s take back our democracy, this is a prerequisite for the society we are fighting for. Goodnight everyone.”

Those were the words I needed to hear before going to bed last night. Hope isn’t something you find out there. Hope is what we create and how we live in each moment.

So my question for you: What are you willing to do today to be hope in the world? Really take a moment and look. It might be simple. For me, I will be hope today by sending a few dear friends a message about what I appreciate about them and how grateful I am they are in my life. 

If getting involved in electoral organizing is calling to you, now is the time to get involved. I’m working full time right now as a field organizer in North Carolina with Planned Parenthood Votes to flip NC blue and win the U.S. senate seat here. If you want to volunteer in North Carolina, please email me back and I’ll loop you in! You can be anywhere, and even an hour of volunteering makes a huge difference 🙂

If you haven’t seen it yet, here is my guide on how to get involved and make a meaningful impact in the 2020 election. 

With love,
Daniel

P.S. Want regular updates on 2020 election organizing in NC? I’ll be posting more about that on my Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Follow me there if you’d like those updates.