Supported by Crossing Party Lines and Braver Angles Long Island Alliance

It has been said that to some generations much is given, of others much is asked. Ours is a generation that is defined by both. We live in the richest country in the history of the world. Science has brought all manner of conveniences to us that were unheard of since time immemorial. Yet, most of us are feeling the flip side of this new global growth – isolation, disconnection, and hopelessness about the state of affairs & our collective future. There is a sinking feeling that as a people we have got stuck in discord & fear – for our communities, our country and our world. The promise of a “more perfect union” seems to be faltering, and at a pace.

We find ourselves at a moment when each of us has a choice to make – give into the status quo of “US” vs. “THEM”, fearing & hating the “OTHERS” who do not understand or agree with us, packing our bags or packing our guns OR we TAKE A STAND ON THE SIDE OF HOPE by refusing to believe the pundits and the doomsayers who are telling us that our fellow Americans are our enemy, and DEFY THEIR DEMANDS to hate each other.

HOPE IS AN ACT OF DEFIANCE. DEFY WITH US.

To counter the mainstream media stories of hate & division, we are creating a video series called “American Hope” featuring stories of regular Americans sharing a moment from their lives when they or someone they know faced a situation when it was easy to give in to the status quo of fear, hate & despair yet they CHOSE to take the high road of love, hope & goodness to do the right thing.

Think of a time when when you (or someone you know) chose hope in your (their) own life. Maybe you made a friend out of a bully, or maybe your dad chose to be accountable when he could play the blame-game, maybe your mom spoke up for a neighbor who looked different than others in the community, or maybe your friend reached out to you when things were too fraught between you. The unsung choices and acts of hope in everyday life made by ordinary people are what keeps a community and a country alive. The time has come to make those unsung choices be sung and spoken out loud. For fear is contagious, but so is hope. Together, we can form a human wall of hope & humanity against the corrosiveness of our collective despair.

Reach out to Swati@TiredAndBeatup.com with the subject “AMERICAN HOPE” and our editing team will send you recording instructions. If you need help telling your story or think you only have a fragment of a story & need help finding the rest of it, reach out and our storyteller team will help you craft it. You can also read my own story “Why Choose Hope“; the inspiration behind this project.

Look inside you and around you for goodness. Choose Hope. Share Hope. Be Hope.

More than a filmmaker/storyteller, Swati turns ideas into experience. She is also an environmentalist and a first generation immigrant to the United States. She can be reached via Linkedin and swati@TiredAndBeatup.com