by Chad “Get Right” Fitzpatrick, Correctional Facility in Oak Park Heights, Minnesota
What do you think of when you hear the word, “Pandemic?” I bet the first thing that comes to mind is COVID. Right? But what about hopelessness? Does that even cross anyone’s mind when they hear the word, “Pandemic?” Probably not, why? Because people don’t see hopelessness or if they do they don’t care or even just don’t know how to treat it and slow it down like we did for COVID.
Have you ever felt hopeless about something to some degree or another? I sure have, even to the point at my lowest I just wanted to give up but my purpose here is not yet complete. Now take a look around you and what do you see? Now really take a look and listen to those around you and what do you see and hear? Do not deny it, but I bet it’s hopelessness right? So now do you see what I mean when I say we live in a pandemic of hopelessness worldwide?
People try to mask their feelings in many ways all the time so hopelessness can be tricky to notice. But a lot of the time people feel hopeless over small things and those are harder to even notice because we as a society think hopelessness has to be something huge.
So where does it come from? Can you catch hopelessness from the air like COVID? No! There are many factors that come into play in one’s life to feeling hopeless such as their environment, mental health issues, family issues, loss of a loved one or friend, job issues and the list could go on and on. People feeling hopeless may also feel: sad, depressed, shame, lonely, powerless, vulnerable and this is what I was talking about when I said hopelessness can be tricky to notice. But people feeling hopeless at one point or another night have felt; happy, hopeful, proud, accepted, confident, inspired, loved, optimistic.
So, in closing, I leave you with this to think about. Have you felt hopeless? Have you ever known anyone else that has felt and talked about being hopeless? Do you see others around or hear others around you talk about feeling hopeless? Now, do you think we have a pandemic of hopelessness? And what can you and I do to be proactive to help lessen that pandemic of hopelessness in some way?
So, until pen meets paper again keep expressing yourself, keep writing and keep being you.