I am scared. I once had dreams and imaginings of what my future would look like. I once had aspirations of going to pride parades where an endless amount of color seemed to be pouring from the streets. I thought of pursuing a career in education, teaching students about their world. I imagined living my life as the true version of myself, an identity that was entirely my own. I had simple longings for a family, a child with my chubby cheeks and wide brown eyes. But I am afraid that none of this will be achievable because my perception of the future is so dark. I know so little of what is going to happen; I have so small of a reference of life to base the future on. This is why I chose to interview some of the teachers in hopes that they will provide me with their view on what the future will look like. I hope they are able to abate my fears. 

I interviewed James Eastman, Pamela Duncan, Samuel Stump, and Derek Hutchinson, our humanities teachers. I asked them a series of interconnected questions on their view of what the world will look like. With the divided political situation in our country, the ever-growing presence of climate change, and wars being fought overseas, these questions have been prompted from fear. By asking these questions, I hope the teachers will be able to provide me insight into their minds. 

1. What do you think the future will look like? 
2. How do you feel about our future? 
3. Are you optimistic? Pessimistic? Neutral? 
4. What do you think is the best-case scenario? The worst? 
5. What are you going to do to create the future that you want? 
6. Do you have any pieces of wisdom to share?

After conducting interviews, I was pleasantly surprised by how similar their answers were. There is an underlying theme that all of these teachers have. There is a commonality of positive thoughts towards our future. 

When asked about what they thought the days to come would look like, there were two routes that people went. They either gave a broad answer on what they thought the general future would look like, or they asked how far into the future we were referring to.

For instance, when posed with this question, Stump and Duncan both stated that they were optimistic. Stump said, “I like to consider myself a humanist in that I really believe in the power of humans to make positive change and course-correct when things go wrong. I think history is full of stories like that.” This was very much in line with Duncan’s view, where she states, “I think the future eventually will be better than the past and the present. I do have some optimism that the world does move forward…I do still hold out hope that things will eventually be better.” Their reasoning for this is their belief that “…there are more good people in the world than bad,” as stated in my interview with Duncan. Their positive attitude towards the times ahead, regardless of how far, stems from their trust in humanity. When these two teachers think of the future, they have confidence in the human ability to persist.  

Eastman and Derek, on the other hand, wanted more specifics. They both asked how far into the future we were referring to. I asked them to consider five to ten years ahead, then for them to consider the time when their students are their current age, say 20 to 30 years in the future. Their reply to the more imminent future was the same. They both believe that it would be similar to today. Derek went as far as to say that it would be “indiscernible.”  Neither believed that much would be different from how it is today, despite the drastic change in presidency and control of the House and Senate. In their eyes, the state of the world would look the same. 

And then, when asked for decades along, the Community High School teachers went down interesting routes. 

For instance, by the time that I would be his age, Eastman thought of the world in two ways. “I can see a world where things spin out of control…we don’t do enough to deal with climate change, global conflicts… I can also see in 20 years where things are beautiful…where we take seriously the challenges of the present.” His view of decades into the future is one on a spectrum between this dichotomy, a vision within the bounds of these two extremes. When asked what his best-case scenario and his worst-case scenarios were, they were much the same. Eastman saw that the world could turn into “basically hell” or it could transform into a world where we were living “sustainably” and in “abundance”. 

Derek, on the other hand, imagined a future that was a little different. He approached the answer to this question as dissimilar to that of the other teachers. He could see a world where we had more technological advancements, and yet he could also see one in which we rejected these technologies. He also saw a future, like that of today, where the health and prosperity of someone were based on their geopolitical location. There was not as much of a dichotomy in his imaginings of the times to come. Derek simply hoped that things would look better than they are today. He was “quietly optimistic about the future.” 

This comment piqued my interest. The diction of “quietly” really stood out to me. I questioned him on why he was “quietly” optimistic versus simply optimistic? What was the distinction? His reply to this line of questioning was that there was plenty of evidence for things to be “doom and gloom” or the other way around. He posed the rhetorical question, “What if the future was actually a really wonderful place to be?”, which seemed to stick with us throughout the rest of the interview. He was not blindly positive about what was going to happen as time passed. Derek did not ignore the faults of the world; he was just merely pointing out that it could also be good. In my eyes, he seemed realistic, acknowledging the two ways the world could turn out. 

I questioned him on that as well, wondering if he was a realist with hope. His reply, “I don’t really like hope, because I don’t think hope is based on facts,” was not one I was expecting. Derek went on to explain further why he had this stance. The more he explained, the better I understood his position. He gave me the example of the climate issue. He stated that we have the solutions to the problems; we just have to use them. Climate change is happening, and rapidly so, and we need to act on solutions to it. The fact of the matter is that it’s not an impossibility to solve the issues facing us today; we just have to act on it as opposed to simply being pessimistic about the world. Derek then proceeded to tell me something that I think I will carry with me for the rest of my life. “I think that people do need to start thinking about the future in a positive way. Like maybe the future should be a place that we want to be, not where we’re afraid to be.” And as he stated before, this line of reasoning isn’t based on hope; it is based on the cold hard truth that we can shape the future into the place that we want to be. 

Vision of the worst-case scenarios for the future are much the same across the board. Stump imagines the fire and brimstone where the planet becomes uninhabitable and wars rage across what remains of it. Duncan imagines the worst in pictures of our political leaders abusing their powers and rounding up their citizens for detention camps. Everyone thinks the worst in much the same way, all the terrible things in our current society coming to fruition. However, these people also dream about a future where we don’t experience a worst-case scenario. 

When asked about the actions that they are taking to make the future into a place they want to be, everyone had the same answer: teaching. Their way of making an impact in this world is through education. By presenting and informing their students of the present and past, they are shaping their own futures. They are also allowing their students to create their own worlds. Through their words, actions, and lessons, these teachers spend their lives molding the days to come through generation after generation of new minds. It is through their wisdom that we may hope to live in a place where we can be happy, healthy, individuals with a will to continue on. 

I began this investigation through a lens of fear and anxiety. Because of the state of the world in which I am writing this, I am afraid of the future. There are wars going on right now that are killing children. The climate is so damaged that people are losing their homes because of it. A new president will sit in the office who plans to enact harmful policies towards minorities, towards the country. I am terrified of what will become of me. 

That is why I decided to ask my teachers for their thoughts. Not all my fears are completely gone. I do not think they will ever disappear. However, I am no longer paralyzed by them. Through the words of my teachers, I am given their knowledge, their hopes, their optimism, and their perspective. I have been given alternative imaginings of the future. Perhaps ones where I may be happy in my career choice, where I am living well and freely, where I have a family. I thank my teachers: James Eastman, Samuel Stump, Pamela Duncan, and Derek Hutchinson, for allowing these dreams to live on. 

I ended my interviews with them asking for pieces of wisdom to share. I end this piece in the same way. 

“Human beings have always faced problems whether it’s famines or droughts or wars or disease and so far we have been able to overcome those things. Maybe not defeat them entirely but we have been able to thrive despite them. And I think, if the past is any indication of what the future is going to look like then that will happen again and it will continue to happen and with that in mind, having a positive, constructive outlook to the future, one that avoids nihilism is extremely important. We are only going to have a great future if we believe we’re going to have a great future. And I think that so many people are pessimistic and negative about the state of the world that it doesn’t do anything to help. I think it just feeds into the problem.” — James Eastman 

“Life doesn’t necessarily have a prescribed meaning. I think it’s up to each individual person to give life meaning…Sometimes in our culture, there is a certain set of societal expectations that people feel like they have to follow…Everyone should do what makes them happy, whether that’s playing sports or socializing with friends and going to parties or playing video games or reading books or spending a bunch of time outdoors; whatever it is that you find happiness and meaning and purpose in, you should pursue that, and even if other people may see those things as a waste of time, I don’t think it’s ever a waste of time if you’re passionate about it and you enjoy doing it. Don’t let judgement of others and societal expectations make you feel guilty about what you love to do or your attitude towards life in general.” — Samuel Stump 

“I do think that there are more good people in the world than bad. And even people who I know very well did vote a way that I find very difficult to understand, I do think that those people just didn’t think critically about what a Trump presidency would mean for the whole world. And I do hope that those people will all realize that every single person is valuable.” — Pamela Duncan 

“Try to walk through life with grace, and wisdom, and beauty.” — Derek Hutchinson