Publisher's Note: Trumpism has upended American democracy in large measure by dominating the attention of supporters and opponents alike. It will succeed to the extent that it exhausts our capacity to imagine a new civic future. The intent of this newsletter is to provide an antidote to our exhaustion through a short daily reflection and a space for discussion to reclaim the heart of our democracy and imagine a better future for all. This week's theme is Turning Our Attention.
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Meditations for the Resistance
Daily Attentional, Volume 1, Week 1
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“Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense.”
— Václav Havel
Democracy cannot survive on optimism alone. Outcomes are too uncertain, setbacks are too frequent. Sustained democracy requires something greater.
The playwright, democratic activist, and president of the Czech Republic Václav Havel identified that something as hope. For Havel, hope is grounded in purpose and meaning, not unquestioned optimism. “Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense,” said Havel. Hope is a means to sustain our commitment and action even when success is unclear.
In civic life, despair often masquerades as "realism." People withdraw from their connections to one another because caring has become too costly. Hope, in Havel’s sense, counters this withdrawal. It anchors action in fidelity to a higher purpose rather than outcome.
German artist Käthe Kollwitz’s work embodies this essential democratic discipline. Her figures labor, grieve and endure. In 1922 she created the woodblock print "The People" as part of a series about World War I. She suffered tremendous loss during the war, including the death of her son in battle, and she used the work to make sense of her experience. There is no triumph here, no promise of resolution. And yet there is dignity. The image has a prevailing sense of communal strength despite the surrounding blackness. Kollwitz's work offers us authentic hope.
Democracy requires hope without guarantees.
- Václav Havel, "Disturbing the Peace" (1986).
- Käthe Kollwitz, "The People" (1922–23).
COMING TOMORROW: Seeing the Unseen
