Innovations Roadmap #3

Hope [hohp]

Noun

1. the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best

2. a particular instance of this feeling

3. grounds for this feeling in a particular instance

4. a person or thing in which expectations are centered

5. something that is hoped for

TOPIC: What are your hopes and dreams for your community/society?

Being new to Utah, I would think I wouldn’t have any hopes or dreams for the community around me. But I do! Hopes that stem from my daily life and dreams that come from living on campus, right up in the college life. Before this, I never seriously thought about what I wished for my community. In retrospect, I did have some ideas, most of which branched out of complaints I had with the community. There were fewer ideas that came from positive things. After all, if something works, why fix it?

I had a lot of problems with the public transportation system in Las Vegas. It wasn’t as extensive as I would’ve liked. It gained a reputation for being unsafe, unclean, and slow. Everyone who took the bus knew otherwise, although they acknowledged the occasional mad person came on. The stops never went in residential areas that were better off, even though the people in those neighborhoods may have wanted to ride the bus. In Salt Lake, the buses and TRAX go into neighborhoods, regardless of economic status, and it’s easily accessible everywhere. My complaint with the bus system is how it changes. If it’s not broken, why fix it? I’m sure there was a good reason for the bus system changing; I just didn’t appreciate the change without knowing the reason. My hope is that UTA will tell us why they’re changing so many routes at once. Or maybe they have and it was hard to find. In that case, I wish the information were easily accessible for riders. I had difficulties finding my way to places after the bus scheduling changed. At the least, they should make the reason why known.

When I think about society, I think about the country. Rarely, I’ll think about the international community. Because I am not a resident of other countries, I don’t know what their problems are and how to help. There are a few problems- such as the recent rape victims in India- that are relevant globally. For the United States- and although less frequent, for the international community- there are many hopes and wishes from me. Most of them can be heard all across the nation in one way or another. These issues are relevant to current news, and must be addressed at some point or another.

I hope for gun control. We don’t have to take away all guns, but to make it more difficult for mentally-ill people to access guns is a step in the right direction. In the same vein, there should be better access and treatments for mental health, because that is a cause for most gun violence in America today. The media needs to stop reporting every single shooting. I saw a headline the other day saying that the recent Texas college campus shooting was the 5^th major shooting in America for 2013. The fifth. The year is only three weeks old and there have been five major shootings.  That’s not to mention any accidental deaths that may have occurred. The media sensationalizes these tragic shootings. The only thing that gets ratings for news is sensational news, and shootings provide it. The problem is, suicidal or mentally ill people see it, and they think, “No one will know my name if I kill myself normally. I can go out this way and be known.” It’s a deadly and frighteningly intelligent thought. How many more innocents die because America can’t make up its mind? I dream and wish for the day when America’s gun-related deaths go down.

Another major important topic that is relevant all over the planet is women’s rights. In the most recent election cycle, women’s rights were being debated. By men. Why should men decide what women can do with their bodies? Women are perfectly capable of making decisions for themselves. I am going to keep my political ideology out of this as well as I can, because this is something I feel rather strongly about. Mature adult women can make their own decisions. They are human beings, just like every other person in the country. Abortions, birth control, family planning, everything should be available to women. Women should not be taught to ‘not be raped,’ because that is not only forcing women to take on responsibility for their rape, but also portrays men as being unable to control their desires (which is untrue). In rape trials, women have to take on the burden of proving they were raped. Rapists don’t have to prove they didn’t rape the woman. Women are paid less than men for doing the same job. Women make up the majority of the population but are underrepresented. I hope that one day women will be able to make their own choices without having men regulate as much of a woman’s body as they can. I wish that men would get out of women’s bodies. Women can make their own decisions. We are intelligent humans, just like men, and we can be just as strong as men, too.

In the very long list of things I wish for from society are gay rights. Not just gay rights, but transgender rights. Once again, they are human beings. I had the greatest fortune of going to an accepting high school that had a large openly gay and bisexual population. Many of my friends are gay or bisexual. They laugh, cry, smile, and live, just like a normal human. The only difference is who they love. And who’s to say they can’t love who they want? It’s not society’s business who marries who. It’s up to the two individuals in the relationship. For transgenders, how come they can’t feel comfortable in their own body? It is up to the individual, once again. One of my wishes is to see gay rights stop being a topic of debate, because quite frankly, we can’t govern love. That’s utterly ridiculous. I hope that one day, everyone can feel comfortable in their own body and will be free to love who they love.

Ultimately, I want others to be happy. That is the biggest dream for me. Harmony and acceptance for every human being.