My optimistic ideals

Hello guys!

Okay, so it's been over a month. Yes, I'm taking the shame. Every day I think about this blog and I feel guilty for letting it fall by the wayside... but I'm updating it now, so never let it be said that I never do anything for you.

Something has been occurring to me recently which I feel I need to share on here. In a few months time, it will be a year since I decided to be a political activist, and over the last few weeks I've realised that sometimes, I'm just an activist for the sake of complaining about something. Which is stupid, I know. So it's something I'm going to improve.

For example, I'll get an email from Avaaz.org or 38 Degrees or another NGO that I subscribe to, I'll sign their petition and then I'll forget about it. I don't do any research into it or anything. It's just because something I have learned to have confidence in has asked me to do it, I just get on with it without a second thought. This is obviously something that I'm going to try hard to stop doing, because independence is the most key part of my values. This is why I'm not loyal to any particular party; because if I was, I'd end up supporting something that I wouldn't normally support (or condemning something I would have supported.) So, anyway: it's never too late for a new start, and today I've decided I'm going to research more into the causes that I believe in, so that I can justifiably quote my opinion without just jumping on a bandwagon.

Now, this post is called 'My optimistic ideals'. The reason for this is because after my own independence, another thing that is very important to me is seeing the good in people. I know it's naive, but I genuinely believe that everyone has a good side, and that once they realise that, then they can use it to really help people and to make a difference. I think that a lot of the time, people can get so lost in the practicalities and politics of situations that they forget what is really important: people feeling secure and satisfied. Statistics mean nothing if people are not benefitting from them. (Sorry, I am fully aware that I am rambling here, but it makes sense in my head.)

Okay, People to Love and Admire. Now, for this post it's a bit unusual, because for the first time, both my people are fictional characters, but they are two of the best and most inspirational fictional characters I have ever come across!

1) David Reynolds
David Reynolds is a very intellectual, sharp, gay teenager in an online series called the Naptown Tales. I don't usually mention people's sexualities when I'm talking about how cool they are, but with David it's pretty vital. Basically... at the start of the series he meets and falls in love with a boy called Jeremy, and everything after that happens as a result of this occurrence. David and Jeremy decide to publicly come out (in a very conservative state in America) and play a fundamental part in changing people's attitudes towards the LGBT community, not just in their state, but right across America and even further. Politically-minded David takes no liberties in his campaigning - I think he's a politician through and through, but a very kind, compassionate one. He obviously has other issues that he feels strongly about other than LGBT, but that is the thing the series focusses strongly on. They're well worth a read...

2) Flora Poste
Flora Poste is the main character in a book by Stella Gibbons called Cold Comfort Farm. In the book, she goes to live with her cousins, the Starkadders, who are the most cut-off, reclusive and frankly boring people in the world, kept at the farm by the domineering Aunt Ada Doom, who apparently 'saw something nasty in the woodshed'. Flora (who is strong, capable and a bit arrogant) walks into their lives and single-handedly decides to sort out everyone's lives for them - which inevitably leads to a happy ending for everyone, including the great aunt. I love Flora because she is so charismatic and so cool that she can just walk in and take control like that. I like people with this power, it's a good power to have. Obviously it can be misused, but on the whole it's a really useful (and pretty awesome) trait. (Again, this book is a really fantastic read if you have a bit of time.)

I'll see you guys around, I guess, if I can be bothered to update this any time soon... hopefully I can...