A Dialogue Between Hope and Experience

Ach, cheer up! The sun is shining!

So it is. But it’s not the weather that concerns me.

What, then? Who stole your scone this time?

Enough with the banter, okay? I think this is supposed to be pitched at a slightly higher level than the merely couthy.

Fair enough. All right. Well then: tell me your problems.

We’re both … good people, yes? Decent sorts, you would agree?

Yes. I think so, yes.

So is that why we always finish last?

What do you mean? We – us personally, or …?

No, I mean in general. Decent, generally kind, non-aggressive, non-exploitative … I was down at Govan Cross the other day. Jesus. It looks like there’s been a war, and one that didn’t go so well. There were people looking hungry. Genuinely, actually short of food. Here.

Oh, that’s … it can’t have been that bad. I know things are rough right now, but …

But what? The country’s in the shitter. And it’s not like we managed to get out of the hole those bastards dumped us in the last time, either. That’s what I mean. We just seem to keep losing. Decent people keep losing. Or the other lot keeps winning, put it that way.

Okay, hold on there, back it up … I don’t like dichotomies. Don’t start splitting everything into Them and Us.

Wait, did you say you don’t like dichotomies? What about us?

Us, as opposed to Them, or us, as in you and me?

You and me us. Hope and Experience.

Don’t be … We’re not a dichotomy. You think we’re a dichotomy? You think we’re, what, in opposition to each other? One of those ghastly couples like Faith and Reason? I sincerely hope not!

Well, maybe, sometimes … you know, sometimes, you can seem a little vain, or foolish, maybe …

Vain and foolish, eh? Is that how you see me?

Look, no, not … It’s a figure of speech, isn’t it? Vain hope, foolish hope …

Bitter experience!

Touché.

Yes, well, you had it coming. As I’m sure you are well aware.

Indeed. My apologies.

Accepted. Now. You were saying …?

Ah yes. We keep losing. What I mean is, we – those of us who believe in the better impulses of humanity, in the progressive forces of society – we’ve been on a long losing streak. Well, I’m sure you’re aware of this. You’re bound to be, professionally at least: there was a good long chunk of the last century when people thought that things were getting better and were going to keep on getting better. In certain parts of the world, at least, this being one of them.

Rising expectations. Yes, I remember. A brighter future, a better tomorrow … even under the mushroom shadow there was the lure of space. The moon, Mars … expansive, outward urges. Good times. They’ll come again.

But will they?

Think harder. Pull back a little, and look again.

Hmm. Yes, okay, I take your point. The wheel turns, what goes up must come down, the last shall be first and all that sort of stuff. But … I have a doubt.

You’ve always had a tendency towards pessimism. It’s because you get so involved. You lose yourself in the detail and forget about the total picture.

I know, but …

But what?

I don’t know if I should say. It’s embarrassing.

Embarrassing? You’re the personification of an abstract noun!

That’s why it’s embarrassing.

—Explain. Enlarge. Expand.

Haa … okay. I … I don’t think past events are necessarily predictors of future occurrences.

Ah. Wow. Really? I mean … wow. You – Experience-with-a-capital-E – you don’t think that the past is a guide to the future?

No. Not always. And less and less so now, to be honest.

Wow, again. Have you … have you … wait, what makes you think so?

Everything’s off the scale. The size of the global population, the interconnectedness of human society, the ever-lengthening chain of dependencies upon which civilisation hangs, the forces available, the availability of force: it’s unprecedented. The past is not just past, it’s obsolete. You only need to look at recent events to …

Aha!

What?

What you were just saying there. At the end.

Eh? Oh. Oh, right, right. Look at recent events. Experience teaches us that experience isn’t everything it’s cracked up to be. Funny.

You know me: always looking on the bright side.