A Ray of Hope

“Are there people you won’t listen to”?

Early on in Someone To Tell It To’s life, we were asked that question by a man who seemed very curious about the work that we had embarked upon. There was something about his question that felt as if there was an element of judgment behind it, as well as an element of skepticism.  

Perhaps he thought there were people to whom we should not listen? Maybe because of their politics, religion, background, race, or circumstances? We weren’t exactly certain.

Over the years we’ve encountered others who suggest that we shouldn’t be spending our time listening to people who are outside of our geographical area or who can’t afford to pay us for our time or who they don’t feel are deserving of our time. That not everyone deserves to tell their stories and have them listened to.

It always saddens us when that happens. 

At the end of one year and the start of another, we believe that it’s important to look at our values again - to reaffirm what they are and to make certain that we are upholding them.  

Then, to keep them in the forefront of our minds and hearts the whole new year through.

At the core of our values, simply put, are these beliefs:

• that everyone (and we mean everyone) is born with inherent worth,
• that everyone has a voice that needs to be heard, and
• that everyone, regardless of any label we may try to place upon them, needs to feel safe and needs to feel loved for who they are.  

Everyone.

Right now, the world seems as if it is in a dark and fractious place. It seems as if our values are not nearly the values that the larger world holds. Instead, we seem to have: 

A social culture quick to cancel immediately those with whom we differ. 

A political culture intent on demonizing and lying about so many things. 

A religious culture focused on condemnation and judgment. 

A relational culture slow to nurture and cultivate meaningful and deeper connections. 

An economic culture designed to lift the few and burden the many. 

It’s been suggested that 2025, instead of moving the world forward, actually saw the world take a step backwards in our progress and development. At least, for so many people, it felt that way, according to public opinion surveys, commentators, and news reports. 

At the end of every calendar year New York Times journalist Nicholas Kristof writes an opinion piece about how this is the best time to be alive in the history of the world. He shares statistics and stories to back up his premise.

2025’s commentary - “In Which I Try Valiantly to Cheer You Up” - was perhaps the most difficult one he’s ever had to write. He almost didn’t write it, he admits. His gut feeling was that 2025 was “a setback for humanity”. 

But always wanting to see and provide hope, he dug deeply to find if there was any reason for hope to exist. 

Kristof acknowledged that democracies are eroding, politics are toxic, devastating wars have been waged (Sudan, Gaza, and Ukraine, most prominently), the planet is burning, and there are growing disparities between those who have and those who have not. 

He doesn't shy away from acknowledging the real and perceived threats to the world’s health and to humanity’s survival. 

In this commentary, he writes that maybe the worst calamity to strike an adult is to lose a child. A statistic he highlights, sadly, is that in 2025, for the first time in the 21st century, the number of children worldwide who are dying before the age of five is believed to have risen, by about 200,000, according to the Gates Foundation. A statistic such as that caused him to search ever deeper for some better news.

His realism is very real. Yet … ultimately, so is his hope.

“A starting point”, he writes, “is to gain perspective and acknowledge that in the arc of human history, we’re still in good shape. While 2025 wasn’t the best year in human history, measured by child mortality, it was one of the five best years ever. Fewer than half as many children died in 2025 as in 2000 … and, “ the share of children stunted by malnutrition will most likely be lower in 2030 than it is now, the (Gates) foundation suggests …”

Kristof goes on - 

• 88 percent of adults worldwide are literate, up from less than 50% in 1970.
• Roughly 30% fewer Americans will have died from drug overdoses in 2025 than in 2023.
• Scientific breakthroughs in science are emerging for revolutionizing care for sickle cell anemia, Alzheimer’s and dementia, genetic disorders, diabetes, obesity, addiction, schizophrenia, multiple myeloma, pancreatic cancer, leukemia, smallpox, mood disorders, and the prevention of HIV/AIDS, for example.
• Clean energy economics have been turned upside down and now offer a path forward, especially in solar  power, making it cheap and simple to use. 

In the end, he asserts - “... we humans are probably in the best decade in the past 300,000 years — plus we can glimpse a path forward that would leave Earth worth bequeathing to babies born today.”

And in the end, Someone To Tell It To echoes and believes the words of Mahatma Ghandi - 

"The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members." 

That’s exactly why we will listen to and reassure anyone who is feeling vulnerable. We believe that we have a duty to notice, value, and offer dignity to everyone who needs to know that others care. 

That is, to offer them - and even to ourselves - a ray of hope.

Photo by Pascal Debrunner on Unsplash