All the hope in my life has been sucked away.

You have no idea how difficult this semester has been for me. I've spent the semester studying the hopelessness of the human situation, and I can hardly stand it. I began the semester by studying the Bosnian War and the War against Kosovo. At the same time, I was learning how democracy is failing across the world for the opportunity of intolerant religious groups to obtain dominant political structures. I've learned that the colonization of Africa, the Middle East and Asia has left these countries with a model political structure of violence and intolerance. I've discovered that the U.S. has made foreign affairs decisions that effectively destroys any opportunity of aiding instable countries to obtain stability. I've learned that children today are being forced to fight in civil wars, women are risking rape on a daily basis to secure food for their family, and if the U.S., Europe or the UN attempted to do something about it, we would be killed.

I need some chocolate.

My professors criticize their students when we try to hope that there are solutions, we just have to keep fighting for them. They laugh and say snidely, "Well, that's optimistic!" I know they do it because they don't want us to underestimate the complexity of these issues, but sometimes I wish they would give us hope that by studying these issues and being open-minded, we will be rewarded with the solutions.