Anger and resentment are contagious. We feel frustration when a product, service, or person disappoints us by failing to meet our needs or expectations. It’s tempting to find others with similar experiences and join a movement built on shared bitterness rather than pursue compassion, humility, and understanding because that work is often difficult and messy. It’s easier to blame, dismiss, and hold a grudge. 

Look no further than the emboldened and amplified anger sweeping the United States and other free, democratic societies. Hate speech, discrimination, racism, and crimes against immigrants, migrants, refugees, gay and trans people, religious and ethnic groups, and public figures are on a measured and undeniable rise.[1] To treat others—our fellow humanity—as “less than” is to presume superiority, create division, and invite distrust and instability to our fragile global community. There have always been spaces that enable, amplify, and capture imaginations fixated on others as the source of their discomforts and frustrations. Those spaces may be free to exist, but we need more voices and spaces that inspire people to a better way of shared living.

Our social malaise can be overcome when we value and lead with openness. Valuing openness invites creativity, compassion, and diversity into everyday moments. Practicing openness allows space for achievement, disruption, failure, and disappointment as part of the normal human experience. It also creates the conditions that enable personal growth, maturation, and adaptive problem-solving. Openness inspires empathy, curiosity, and collaboration—virtues that sustain humanity, not undermine it. 

As the world flirts with increased division and chaos, we need a counter-movement of hope and change that benefits all humanity over a select few. We need leaders, builders, helpers, and supporters who courageously participate and identify with a bold, hope-filled vision for tomorrow. We need organizations, institutions, and corporations that see their potential to build opportunity and equity for a sustainable future. We need inclusive experiences, wisdom, and values that build up and unite, not tear down or divide.

A movement of hope is not built on the idea that success belongs to the strong or privileged. Hope, rather, is built on the belief that everyone is created equally for goodness and belonging. The current moment urgently calls upon us to take action and assure future generations that a better tomorrow is coming.

[1] https://usafacts.org/articles/hate-crime-data-value-expanding-our-sources/