Today.
To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is
based on the fact that human history is a history not only of
cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, and kindness.
What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine
our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do
something. If we remember those times and places- and there are so
many- where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the
energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this
spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act,
in however small way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian
future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to
live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all
that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.” --Howard Zinn