There's this one woman in my office who, whenever something ridiculous, unjust or frustrating is mentioned in her presence, commits the unjustifiable sin of saying, 'Well, that's reality, get used to it.'
You know the person I'm talking about: the one who has resigned his/herself to the negative side of life. Possibly one who marched against Vietnam or something like that, and concluded that their say doesn't count.
The one who has resigned themselves to their lot, and doesn't believe that people are accountable for their own destinies.
I have taken to wondering, through my irritation at their defeatist talk, what has led them to lose the spark that allowed them to continue hoping? Many people suffer terrible things, and some of them come out with a new strength of character, while some allow their capacity to hope for, and indeed work for, a better future to be sapped away.
What is it that divides the no-hopers from the people who get up, dust themselves off, and get on with things?
What divides the people that sit back and say, 'welcome to the real world, kiddo', and those that continue to believe that life is what you make of it?
Everyone comes up against conflict in their lives. One's own problems are always the worst ones, but no one escapes problems in this world. And when you look at what you already have, you find that your problems are just drops in the ocean of your life. However great the problem, however enduring, this too shall pass. Perhaps not ending as you would like it to, perhaps taking longer to be resolved as you would like it to, perhaps, as in the case of the terminally ill, ending in death.
The difference is in the way that people face things. You can wallow in your sense of helplessness, which we all do sometimes, but some people can pull themselves out of that, look to the future, and focus on what is good, even for the dying. The time before death can be the time that you can have the most impact on the people in your life. The way that you face pain and death is the way that people will remember you.
Sometimes, as in the case of bureaucracy, it seems that things are hopeless because the people in power are corrupt or just plain stupid, but when you just sit there with your hands behind your back, you are allowing them to continue perpetrating injustice (or stupidity)!
Ask Nelson Mandella - he persevered for decades, even from prison, to fight social injustice in his country, and yet he lived to see change happen. If you pretend that there's nothing you can do about your life, especially in privileged Western culture, then you are undermining the price that he and many others paid for basic freedoms. He had tenacity, perseverance and patience. Three virtues that Western culture, with its 'I want it NOW' mentality, do not value as highly as they should.
You don't like the politicians or the people in power? So run for parliament. I know people that have.
You don't like the way that your place of employ handles outsourcing? So complain about it (tactfully).
You feel that people in third world countries working in clothing factories should be treated with dignity and respect, and thus be paid for their time? Lobby your government to pressure those countries to change things. Write letters.
In other words, stop sitting there feeling sorry for yourself about how powerless you are, and get up and USE the power that you do have. The more you use it, the more you will get, and eventually, change will come. Not always straight away, but that's life. So it doesn't happen overnight. You'll be growing patience, perseverance, and even better, a stronger character.