There is no lack of opportunity to feel anger and despair. We live in a time where such emotions thrive. The rage of this historic moment spreads like mold, first sticking and disarming the very words we need to find our own version of faith, hope and joy. Now those last three words seem to have been colonialized and are limited to serving on greeting cards and motivation posters. Yet, faith, hope and joy are the very foundation stones of the Sense of Good. Who would begrudge you a little enjoyment, or the confidence to hope for something better as you seek actions that arise out of native goodness?

I suspect the political context of our time has poisoned the language we need to leverage our nation back to where it came from. Our community vernacular is still in place and our personal stories in the creative flux, but when it comes to the power and action of the public sector our native language has been hijacked and black is called white while up becomes down. The Good Decision Project avoids the ‘isms’ of ours and any other time. Any ‘ism’, including patriotism can become language in a straight jacket, stripped of appropriate human feeling and designed manipulate a diverse people out of their own intrinsic sense of decency. When we run into people whose political views diverge from our own, test out the possibility of a good person whose sense of good has been hijacked by our culture’s political narratives. This kind of discovery requires only skillful questions, a capacity to listen and an ability to communicate with strangers outside of the broken political narrative. If we can find each other again at the level of goodness, faith, hope and joy can be salvaged in our lifetime. Faith in humanity often seems naive, but with persistence and insistence, something new can be discovered.