To the future,

I have a hard time conceptualizing what the future of our world will look like, but I’d like to believe it will be hopeful. I have come to realize that humanity has many challenging, upsetting qualities but those are always triumphed by the good that is deeply rooted in all of us. At the end of the day, I hope your world has tapped into that “goodness” and exemplify it everyday.

To my younger brother,

I look at you, the kindness in your eyes, and I see the good within this world. I watch you interact with your surroundings, and overcome all the badness thrown at you with grace, love, and patience. Your leadership and introspectiveness brings light into this world, and that gives me hope because we all need some reflection and leadership these days. I hope that the worries of this world won’t be carried upon your shoulders in the 50 years to come. I hope that I, as in my generation, can pass this world onto you in much better shape than we found it. I hope that you never have to live in fear of destruction politically, socially, or environmentally. I hope that you live in a world where you can sleep at night knowing that everyone in the world sleeps as well as you, warm, with a roof over their head and food in their stomach. I hope that you vote leaders into office who listen to the public and command themselves respectfully, for the people, as their position demands. Most importantly, I hope you that you continue to speak up when you see wrongness afoot. I hope that you continue to stay active in finding justice in the world, and most importantly you never forget how beautiful and precious life is.

To my future nieces/nephews,

I hope you know that I never stopped trying to put together a world that you could be proud of. I hope you know that I voted for those I believed would help everyone, turned off my lights when I was not home, ate as little meat as possible, and walked when I could. I hope you can still enjoy the presence of lions, tigers, elephants, and all the other magnificent species on the verge of extinction. I hope you can still scuba dive and see thriving aquatic life, not choking on pollution. I hope you know that you don’t have to fear speaking up about injustices you witness during holidays. I hope you can attend public events, concerts, movies without fear of persecution and violence. I hope that you know you can always come to me and ask questions, that I will always be here, that I will always love you.

And finally, to my future (possible) children,

I hope you know that I always tried my best, that I have shortcomings, and I have always strived to correct my wrongdoing. I hope you know that I stood up and screamed that climate change was real and humans were the cause, that the oppression of certain groups due to skin color, religion, gender, and creed was real, that goodness could be found in this world if only we shut our mouths and looked around for once. Please know that I fought, and continue to fight, to make the world I’m handing off to you a better world, a more sustainable world, to enjoy long after I’m gone.

I use the word “hope” often within this letter, because I deeply believe that if cannot be hopeful, how will we believe that we can achieve change? But I also understand that there is a danger in hoping without action. So today, I will hope and envision the future I wish to achieve. Then tomorrow, I will sign petitions, I will have tough conversations, I will call my local representatives, I will stay up to date on what is happening in my country and around the world, I will continue to fight for this world.