In the poets and the prophets of old I see the same desire: we cannot rest until the whole world is right. And in the meantime we will alternately fast and feast, we will be faithful to the festivals and the laments. I am okay with being sad much of the time. And yet I also recognize that a hallmark of empire is how it prefers that people operate in a constant state of despair. Depressed people are easier to control. People lose their will to fight. The imagination to believe another world is possible falls through their fingers like sand.
