Excerpt
"And they lived happily ever after."
How many times have we heard that phrase? The end of most every children's story is butterflies and rainbows.
Good triumphs over evil. Love prevails. Happiness is found. Now you can pull your covers up to your chin and go to sleep, snug in your bed and in the knowledge that all is right with the world.
That is, until we grow up. Then we see that all is not always right with the world. In fact, it sometimes feels as though we are stuck in a pit of sand from which we cannot escape. All of our struggles only cause us to sink down further amongst the grains. War. Disease. Loss. Despair.
Where are the butterflies and rainbows now, when we need them most?
It's sometimes so difficult to look to the future with any hope in the heart. What will this world look like for our great-grandchildren? What will become of humans? The questions spiral and the sand pulls us down.
Have you ever heard of the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon? It explains how, after you learn of the existence of something, you start to see it everywhere. For instance, you are told about a certain celebrity and start seeing their face in every advertisement. It's like a strange moment of waking up to the world being just a little bit bigger than it was moments before.
Well, here's my hope: that this book sparks that phenomenon for you. Tuck into bed, pull the covers up snug, and read about how maybe the future could be bright after all. Then … maybe you'll start seeing bits and pieces of it here and there, all around you, in real life. Soak up some of that positivity. Perhaps it's a story in the news of a brilliant new breakthrough in medicine that saves lives. Or a video of an animal being rescued and adopted. People coming together and fighting back against injustices. Trees being planted. A parent playing with their children in the park.
Of course life isn't all butterflies and rainbows, but … the story isn't over yet, is it? We're still here. There's still a chance.
This collection of stories runs the gamut of positive emotions. Some are bittersweet, others are steady lights of hope, and a few will even make you laugh out loud. Some are expansive views of what the future could hold for all of mankind, and others are microcosms of hopeful futures for just a single person.
But what they all have in common is that, perhaps despite some sadness, happiness is ultimately found. These authors have crafted tales for you to escape into, yes, but also to carry with you long after you put the book down. The creation of this collection is a story in and of itself: a story about people wanting to push some positivity out into the world and provide a respite for others.
All is not lost. The future really can be bright.
