Do you still have much hope?

Hope remains OP. Nothing is impossible really. Hold on. Another door will open. Much love to you.

Yes, I have plenty of hope. We've been through worse than this multiple times. I grew up in the times of Polio, bi-weekly nuclear bomb drills in school, the Cuban missile crisis, then later on crazy corrupt Nixon.

No.

Expect nothing & you’ll never be disappointed

No, the way it was before wasn't so great, even if things go back to normal.

Nope.

I have some. Although now more than ever, I truly live just for the immediate future. I have all my shit in order just in case I die. I'm hoping to visit one more country in my 'bucket list' before I die, but no big deal if not.

None whatsoever.

You naysayers need to keep in mind the absolute jubilation that will be all over the country when Trump loses the election.

OP, you need a LIVE LAUGH LOVE mug to cradle.

I have hope as long as Trump isn't re-elected. If he does, then all hope is gone.

I have very little hope left. I am grateful to be as old as I am, as I don't know how many more years of this I can take.

R8 we're not delusional. That fucking psycho and the repugs will rig this election. Get real. We're stuck with the fucking assholes.

[quote] [R8] we're not delusional

Kindly show me where I said anyone was delusional? It must be hell going through life always assuming the worst is going to happen. It's a very rare occurrence when someone expects the worst and the worst is what really happens.

If despair is the alternative, then I will always have hope.

Ideally I would be a Stoic and have neither hope nor despair, but I'm not sure I have it in me.

I am 43 almost and while I have some hope, I am glad that I am not young now. What a world. I mostly have little hope for the few years of youth I have left or my folks back in the US to come out of this in one piece because they are old. I also don't have a whole lot of hope career wise because the world economy will tank (forget the re-openings...it won't be the same) and I worked like an ass at this job to have something solid just in case. A few months ago I was settling into my dream life in Europe and at a dream job and BOOM...all those years working like hell for it.

Faith and hope are the only two things keeping me going right now.

Not a chance. Crazy Ralph'said it best.

Since my hopes and dreams are not pinned on random political machinations, yes (one of the best general decisions I've ever made). As far as science controlling this disease, I think the prospects are very good.

We can only hope or we are FUBAR

Nope. I'm done. Glad I'm on the downward slope.

Nope.

The next best thing is faith in a better future. Something neither Trump, the GOP, and Putin can destroy.

Don't give assholes the power to ruin your day or life. Make the deliberate decision to movie towards a Trump free US instead of declaring defeat and throw hope overboard and allow things, you don't like, happen to you.

No, I just don’t. I make good money, have a good house, partner, and pair of dogs, but I would be hard pressed to outline a likely future that doesn’t involve working my ass off to reach lowered expectations. Really, though? That is better than most have had in history, especially compared to gay men in the past.

Tony Kushner nailed it, IMHO. We live past hope. We lose all reason to think the world or our lives will get better, but something deep in us retains an urge. And usually, the hope comes back.

We made it through a second Bush term. Don’t let anyone convince you that W was significantly better than Trump. We tortured and killed people based on Dick Cheney’s ideology, even when it ran counter to our interests. We set up a network to spy on our own citizens. They mocked us as the reality-based community, because they had to power to impose their will. In the end, he is remembered universally as an idiot.

I still remember the thrill of Obama’s win and inauguration. We live past hope.

Bravo, R23. I agree with both you and R14 (I'm pretty good at stoicism, though), but your words are pretty inspiring.

Hope is a construct of human imagination. What I do actually have is a will to live and an ability to enjoy life in the moment. Worrying about what could happen does no good.

Jubilation, R8? Really?

The same crazy ass people who just hanged the governor of Kentucky in effigy will be back around election time and then again at inauguration time and they will be armed.

If we get through election day and Joe Biden is elected and if we get through inauguration day and Joe Biden is inaugurated, then maybe I will feel hopeful.

No, we are a horrible, self-destructive species and our worst instincts will be the end of our presence on this planet. Which is good for the planet.

Hope is for the naive. I would classify as a cynical stoic. I work, make decent money and am near retirement age. I know I haven't saved enough, but haven't lived extravagantly. My friends are a great joy in my life, my family is tolerable in small doses. When I get to the point of a diminished life, either physically or financially, I will end it on my terms.

R26 just wait. Once Biden wins the vast majority of Trump's tard crew will quickly sink right back into the holes they emerged out of just like the locusts they are. The day he loses they'll give up. The few lunatics who will still try to cause trouble will be dealt with. If there are still any loudmouths making threats by the time inauguration time comes around it will probably be the most heavily secured inauguration in history, especially since it will be the most heavily attended inauguration in history.

Brand New Day? I hope so.

[quote] Once Biden wins the vast majority of Trump's tard crew will quickly sink right back into the holes they emerged out of just like the locusts they are. The day he loses they'll give up.

What’s your IQ?

We’re never recovering from this.

"Then we must do without hope. There is always vengeance!" - John Hurt as Aragorn, 'The Lord of the Rings' 1978.

R28 - you better talk to a lawyer and prepare a will that says what to do in case you become incapacitated and can't do anything on your own terms. I know I will after seeing recovery wards.

I have very little hope. I'm glad I'm old and have experienced much. I think younger people have so little to look forward to.

My heart is broken for my country. I always lived with hope but I feel it draining from me. Trump is WORSE than this fucking germ. I see long grey days ahead and I don’t want to feel this way. Trying to concentrate on the good things. Today I cut some lilacs to bring in. Tonight I might make blueberry muffins. Sounds trite but the alternative is to just sit in sadness.

R31 - I am always shocked by the naive comments of those who say it will be better....how bitches? HUGE companies are filing for Chapter 11, 40 million unemployed, 100K dead and more to come.

I am becoming increasingly impatient with my company out here in Romania and having to write about NYC real estate and everyone so out of touch...nobody is gonna care about Billionaires' Row or the luxury of Hudson Yards anymore. People will not have money and nobody at HQ in Santa Barbara seems to get it.

I totally forgot about Hudson Yards R36. What a useless, ugly monument to pre-Covid excess.

R37 - yes, it is insane and if the poor woman I am rooming with has to write one more article about it, NYC's ultra-luxe sales, or the priciest homes sold in the Hamptons as I research the data, we may go berserk. We are both born in the US and, knowing the reality there, I have become a lazy shut in due to my acute asthma as she has gone from a beautiful and outgoing person to a melancholy introvert. The world we are writing about is dead and we both know it because we study the data daily. We also know damn well recovery will take years.

Like R15, I'm so glad I was born when I was. The 80s and 90s were amazing decades for me. Since 9/11, things have steadily declined. Friendships and relationships never came close to what I had when I was younger, entertainment started to suck. I love for the days before cells phones, internet, turn on MTV and see a Madonna video, drink some Kool Aid and have a pudding pop.

Live for today, not for an idealized yesterday or an imagined tomorrow.

You are right, R38. The pre-covid world is gone. And a long rough patch is ahead.

But one day, the damage will be repaired and the economy will build. I've been through it twice in New York City. Give it five to seven years for things to shake out. The Go-Go 90s followed the crash in 1987. Then everything turned to shit again in 2008. But it comes back.

If you're smart, plan well, and are careful with your money, incredible deals on co-ops and condos will be available then. First, people have to burn through their savings and the two years they can sublet. Then the pressure will be on. There will be a buyer's market.

Those without hope please leave the room.

[quote]I totally forgot about Hudson Yards [R36]. What a useless, ugly monument to pre-Covid excess.

I couldn't agree more. Our offices are located there and I absolutely hate it and don't want to ever go back. Not saying I don't want the virus to ever go away, just that one silver lining is not having to go to HY every day. I just find working there so depressing.

R43 - may I ask why it is depressing? I told my roommate and she was wondering if maybe the idea of such a cold manufactured place that nobody can afford is what is depressing. I know she tells me similar places in LA depressed her as well.

R44, your roommate has it exactly right -- that's exactly what it is. And it doesn't help that previous to moving there, we had a great building we all loved in the center of Midtown that was near everything whereas HY just feels so far removed from the world. Plus it's just nothing but a collection of overpriced stores and restaurants designed to attract rich tourists and there's just absolutely nothing appealing about any of it. (Yes, I realize that could be said of much of Manhattan now but that doesn't make it any better.) About the best option you have every day at lunch time is to go sit on the High Line (because at least it's outside) and frankly even that is a drag.

So yeah, hate the virus but don't miss Hudson Yards AT ALL.

I'm a natural-born pessimist, and I can't imagine that things are going to improve much in the near future. Unfortunately I live in an area (LA County) that's a hotbed for the virus. I'm fortunate enough to be old (67), retired, and reasonably well off. So my thoughts are -- where can I move to that will be comfortable, safe, and have the amenities to be as happy as possible for the remainder of my life? I'm thinking Palm Springs with a pool, or the central coast. Wherever it is, some things that I used to think were important (proximity to an airport, theaters, etc. for example) are not dealbreakers anymore. Health care, weather, and good internet service would be more important at this point.

Yes. It's not the end of the world. This isn't the Bubonic Plague or even a world war.

The "lie down and die" defeatism about Trump and his dwindling, double-digit-IQ voters reeks of cheap Tokyo Rose-style propaganda.