On hope

A few years ago, for History is Sexy, we had a question come in about musicals and revolutions. Naturally the reasons we come back to stories about revolutions, musical or otherwise, are myriad and varied and if you want a more comprehensive look you can listen to the episode but there's one that kind of sums it all up for me, personally.

Revolutions tend to follow a pattern. Successful ones, in any case. There are common ingredients to a productive uprising, from violent political revolts to small social movements. One of those common ingredients is that revolutions don't tend to happen when everything is terrible.

They happen when everything has been terrible, and has started to get a little bit better. The truly terrible times are too steeped in exhaustion and despair. Everyone's just trying to survive and the possibility of better things seems too remote to consider.

When things start to get a little easier there's more energy to stand against tyranny. When things start to get a little better the possibility of things being a lot better seems real.

Revolutions are an act of hope, and you need hope for them to happen.