Life tends to get really hard on everyone. I'm thinking specifically of discrimination and demoralization. The other night I went to see "The Chinatown Files" which was basically about how the FBI targeted, victimized, and spied on Chinese-Americans during the McCarthy era, due to the country of China changing over to communism. Very interesting story in history that I had not heard before.

Watching made me feel so overwhelmed with sadness and horror. I kept thinking about how these are often all the same types of issues of discrimination against other minorities and people out of power; these thoughts made me feel as if there was simply no hope against hatred, bigotry, and evil because it seems to continue on and on and in a variety of ways and causes and never seems to be put out.

I walked home sad, dispirited, worrying about the state of the world. Then, some strange things happened...... First, I passed two lesbians of color kissing each other on the street. I thought about how individuals can personally fight back against oppression. Then, something rather remarkable occured. As I walked up a busy street looking down at the sidewalk in contemplation, I noticed words painted onto the sidewalk. They said Never Give Up. How odd for this to be written on the sidewalk and for me to see this on this evening, when I was feeling this way.

Maybe there is hope in the struggle against oppression, discrimination, hatred, and evil. Sometimes it's hard to keep up the struggle. That's what the hand of oppression wants, however, and that's exactly why we must never give up.