The world we raise our children into is quickly becoming more hostile and unviable. Of course when I grew up in the 75’s-80’s there were already wars, terrorism, pollution but during all my childhood, it was not a question that I’d have a better life than my parents and that the planet would stay livable and able to sustain us indefinitely. I had that confidence in the future and it helped me live the life I lived with a background feeling of security.

Today, father of two wonderful human beings, I find myself worried about their future life, as all parents do but for additional reasons: climate change, pollution, mass poverty and inequality.

Besides, I feel ashamed of our collective failure to curve the trend of our society to push for more consumption, exploitation, profits, destruction. It’s one thing, when you’re a child to rely on adults to take care of the world. Since our society does not give much power to children to influence our ways, it’s only the adults responsibility to take action and make the good choices. Now after being an adult for a while, I cannot hide behind the excuse of age or powerlessness. I have a good job, house, family and friends, I have all the cards in hands to play a role.

And I did in the past, about 15 years ago. At this period I was involved in progressive movements back in France. I felt the people could act, influence and change things and I still believe it. I want to thank the “Bernie, our revolution” movement that I saw rising here in the USA, for keeping me hopeful. What happened in my activist life 15 years ago somewhat left me cynical, disillusioned. At the time I felt abandoned by the rest of my generation (born in the 1970’s), an oddity among a sea of people content to live their life without acting to improve everyone’s well being. Not that they’re more selfish but they don’t see collective movement as a viable way to improve things. They’re cynic in the fact that a lot of them believe radical changes are not realistic, they reject utopia instead of seeing it as an enabler of change. I believe real politic kills politic, politic in the noble term.

“There is no alternative” politic is either a lazy/coward excuse or a statu-quo preserving plan.

Without progressive plans for a better future, people can’t be inspired to get involved, representatives do not engage in bold progressive measure because they don’t feel the support and the pressure from the citizens.

This is our revolution, it won’t come from the top, it never does.

Now that the situation is worse, the future darker, we have no alternative but to do something so that we can look our children in the eyes with hope and without shame.