Season 2 - Episode 1: Looking Back - Looking Forward

In this New Year’s episode of You Still Have Time, we look back on a difficult 2025 and share how we are navigating 2026 with renewed resolutions, from decluttering and limiting negative news to filling our minds with more positive influences. We acknowledge the heartbreak of last year’s crises—wildfires, floods, hurricanes, ongoing gun violence, and global losses—while also highlighting signs of hope such as medical breakthroughs, released hostages, and everyday acts of kindness. The conversation turns to civic engagement, the “three and a half percent rule,” voting, and getting involved locally as ways to push back against helplessness and support democracy and community.

We want to emphasize that listeners are not alone, and stress the importance of staying connected, supporting one another, and refusing to accept despair as the norm.  Whether you are a longtime follower or  brand new to podcasts, this episode sets the tone for 2026: staying informed without being consumed, taking action where possible, and remembering that you still have time to hope, to connect, and to make a difference.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:11

Hello and welcome to You Still Have Time. We're your host. I'm Hope. And I'm Harold. And we want to wish all of our listeners a very happy new year. Happy New Year. It's not too late. It's still early enough in the year. I say Happy New Year throughout January.

SPEAKER_00 0:31

I don't think there's any cutoff to saying Happy New Year.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

I know, but some people say, oh, New Year's over if they think it's one day. They haven't heard us this year, so. Happy New Year. Happy New Year. We're happy to be back with you in 2026. And we hope that this new year that we can hopefully have interesting and provocative topics to keep your interest.

SPEAKER_00 0:59

First of all, we would like to thank all of you who listened to our podcast in 2025. That was our inaugural year, and we've hopefully we will be bigger and better in 2026. So thank you again for listening to us.

SPEAKER_01 1:16

Yes, thank you so much. Of course, at the beginning of each year, one topic of conversation is resolutions. And I made a resolution in 2025, and I have the same resolution this year, and my personal resolution is to declutter. So I I did okay. I'm trying not to be hard on myself because I think that's what happens. People make a resolution and then when the first time they go astray, they give up. But I tried not to do that in 2025 and I did make some progress, but I'm going to continue that in 2026. And uh my other resolution is to fill my mind with more positive things. That's it.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

And I think my resolution for 2026 is along those same lines. I used to be what I would consider a news junkie. I would listen to the news throughout the day. But beginning in 2025, and I guess I'll carry it through 2026, I really want to minimize my intake of news because I find sometimes it takes me down this rabbit hole of bad news, bad occurrence, but bad events. And uh I just think that for the rest of 2026, and maybe who knows, maybe I'll just continue this. Start my day with something more positive, as Hope just said, because as we will talk about during this podcast, 2025 was a tough year.

SPEAKER_01 3:03

Yeah, it was a tough year. And we can't ignore that bad things happen. And we want to be informed about what's happening in the world, but sometimes it we allow it to go a little too deep into our psyche and affect how we respond to things. And so despite all of that, there were negative things that happened, bad things that happened in 2025. The wildfires in California certainly were devastating. January of last year was devastating for so many people, and the majority of those people have not recovered. People who lost their homes and businesses and schools and churches. It was heartbreaking.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

We had the floods in Texas.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 3:58

It's funny, because of the news cycle, these events are on for a moment, and the next week it's like they never happened. But as Hope said, some of the folks have not even recovered from those events.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

Yeah. And the reason is, I think, is not their recovery, but I think the reason we forget them or put them out of our mind is that something new and bad is always happening, whether it be the floods, the hurricane in Jamaica, the death of Pope Francis. And of course, something that has plagued our nation for years now, and that's continued mass shootings. And I, for one, will never get over it. I will never say that's just the way things are, because it's the way things should not be. And I will never get over that.

SPEAKER_00 4:57

Yeah, and we've normalized shootings and to the point where children go through gun shooting drills. I don't know, I think that's what they're called. When I was in school, okay. I look back in the time and she, yeah, we used to do uh we would get under the desks so that when the nuclear bomb hit, we would be safe because we were under the desk.

SPEAKER_01 5:22

Yeah, and it it is sad that you know parents have to buy bulletproof backpacks and kids are going through these drills of what to happen if somebody comes into their school. But you're not it it's not just schools, it's churches, it's synagogues. It's horrible. That's it in a nutshell. And I certainly, my prayer is that in 2026 that we will see less of that. But I don't know. I'm you know I don't want to think of it as something that is inevitable. Inevitable. Thank you for the word. So we did have some good things. Yeah, some good things did happen in 2025. Number one, we both made it through.

SPEAKER_00 6:10

That's that's a bit that's a good thing.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

We both made it through 2025. Um, the hostages were released in Gaza and Israel. That's a wonderful thing. There were a number of medical breakthroughs. There, there's some really great information on new Alzheimer's, treatments for pancreatic cancer. Those things continue to be things that we don't hear a lot about on the news, but but they're happening and good things are happening, and people are still treating each other with kindness every single day. And unfortunately, those are not the things that are highlighted.

SPEAKER_00 6:58

And if you've been listening to our podcast for a while, you realize that we don't talk much about topical issues in terms of politics or religion. But hope and I decided, at least for this opening podcast for 2026, we have to at least mention how people are feeling. I know the people who we interact with are feeling a sense of helplessness that what can I do? I'm unhappy with the way things are going. It seems like it has never been this bad before. But if you're in our age group, we've seen some bad times before.

SPEAKER_01 7:40

We have definitely seen some bad times before. We've lived through Vietnam.

SPEAKER_00 7:46

Right.

SPEAKER_01 7:47

We've lived through the civil rights.

SPEAKER_00 7:49

Well, before Vietnam, the assassination of JFK.

SPEAKER_01 7:52

The assassination of President Kennedy, of Senator Kennedy, of Martin Luther King Jr., so many political assassinations.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

We remember Watergate. We remembered Nixon's resignation. It just goes on and on. And uh, if it things like this, I wouldn't say like this, because this what we're going through today, I think it's a little unique. It's unique.

SPEAKER_01 8:22

It's a little unique. AIDS, IDS. You know. Thankfully, and this can be considered power positive news, when the AIDS epidemic started, it just seemed like that it was just gonna go on ad infinitum that there was gonna be no end. You barely hear about AIDS. Now, AIDS is still exists, but thankfully there are medications and treatments that can lessen the impact of that disease on people. And I remain hopeful that will happen for other diseases as well.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

But one thing we want to stress is you can't feel like you you're helpless.

SPEAKER_01 9:07

You can't give up hope. My name is Hope, so I I feel an obligation to promote it. Yes, but you can't do it alone either. We've done episodes earlier last year on staying engaged and getting involved. And I think it's more important now than ever when so much is going on in the world, when so much is going on in our country and maybe even in your community. Uh as we're recording this, I'm thinking about all the stuff that's happening in Minnesota and elsewhere. There's just so much happening. It does seem overwhelming at times, but we really have to band together to give each other strength, to lift each other up, to keep each other from falling into despair, because we have to keep going.

SPEAKER_00 10:05

We don't have a choice. One of the reasons we do this podcast is because this is what we can do. We don't have the ability to write laws, we don't have the ability to bring people, take people out of office or put them. We do to some extent. That's why you vote. And please, if you don't vote, you really don't have anything to say. One of my what I have we have notes that we start each podcast with, and one of the notes I have down is I'm looking forward to the midterm elections.

SPEAKER_01 10:38

I am very much looking forward to the midterm elections and hope, and this is a political statement, and if you don't agree, you don't agree. Uh, we're not asking everyone to agree with us, but I really hope that the midterm elections institute a change in Congress. I hope, I hope maybe we can elect people with backbone. Maybe we can elect people who want to follow the Constitution, who don't know who want to obey the law. Who want to obey the law? How unique is that? Um, so who won't be bullied? And you know, it my name is Hope. I'm gonna remain hopeful. This too shall pass, as we say, this too shall pass.

SPEAKER_00 11:25

Hope talk tell a little bit about this. I never heard of this three and a half percent rule.

SPEAKER_01 11:31

I just heard about this a week ago, and the three and a half percent rule says that if three and a half percent of a country's population protests nonviolently, that they will, and I think in the description it says in an authoritarian, under authoritarian rule. Well, we're quite I think we are.

SPEAKER_00 12:03

We're approaching if we're not there yet, I think we're approaching an authority.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

Then that that administration, that have whatever you want to call it, will fall. It takes three and a half percent of people who are willing to get in the streets. And so I I know someone who sends out these notes periodically, twice a month, I think he does, and he lists all the demonstrations that are coming up and where they're gonna take place. But he also provides scripts that you can call your congressperson or a senator. You can write what to write, who to support. That's one way we can all we can support organizations who you believe are doing good and positive work.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

We all have to do our share. We all this is not gonna end by itself. One of the reasons at least this is what I believe that one of the reasons we're in this situation today is because people just opted out of the process. I hope you folks, whoever you are, I'm sure none of them are listening to this podcast, but you need to get involved, even if it's on your community, whatever you can do.

SPEAKER_01 13:26

At whatever level, I mean local is best. It all starts local. Politics is all local. All politics is local. Correct. God rest you, tip. But I guess I I think we're stuttering and at a loss for words because it is a little overwhelming. But we hope maybe the folks who are listening to this podcast, we can all join together and find a way. If you have ideas, if you know of ways, things that are going on that deserve support. You know, when this podcast, this episode is over, you can reach out to us and we'd be willing to share information on the Facebook page.

SPEAKER_00 14:15

You still have time, Facebook, and post events or whatever, whatever you feel like, put it on our Facebook page because that's how we're going to get through this. This is going to be our focus for 2026. We are going to get together, we're going to talk about this situation throughout the year so that when we meet in January 2027, we'll say 2026 was a great year.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

And that's not to say that all of the episodes this year are going to be political in nature. They are not.

SPEAKER_00 14:47

We'll get back to the regular Hope and Harrow episode.

SPEAKER_01 14:49

We're just starting off the year thinking, I guess it's just the time that we're doing it, that this is top of mind right now. But we're going to have some fun episodes this year. I don't know where they're going to be yet.

SPEAKER_00 15:04

Well, for that reason, we would certainly like you to send us some information. Give us some ideas of what you would like to hear. We've in the past, we've told you there are a number of ways to reach us. You can send us a text wherever you're listening to this podcast, but to the show notes, and you'll see there you can send us a text. You can send us an email at you still have time podcast at gmail.com. You can leave leave us a voicemail message from our in the show. It's at Speedpipe. Isn't it SpeakPipe? Oh, that's right. I call it Speedpipe. It's SpeakPipe, but that's also in the show notes. So we have a number of ways that you can reach us. We need ideas.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

Yeah, we do need ideas. We've got a couple of ideas, Brewing. We were talking about actually having younger people on the podcast to talk about their vision of being older. I don't know if you guys, when you as the year changed, one of the things I said was I never ever envisioned 2026.

SPEAKER_00 16:12

That was just not a year that, you know, that occurred in my mind that 2026, it it really did feel like I re you remember the big to-do about Y2K?

SPEAKER_01 16:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:27

Because we were born in the 19s. So everything, every year had 19 something. So when it was 2000, it was like, whoa.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

Yeah, how do you even say that? Do you say 2000 or do you say 20? That's that sort of thing. We're adjusting, and we hope to bring some bring you some episodes that are interesting and that'll move you, maybe in certain ways, that will provide you with information you didn't have before.

SPEAKER_00 16:59

So it's so please share this podcast with anyone who you think might benefit from some of the discussions that we're having. If you're enjoying it, I'm sure that you have friends that would enjoy it also. And if they're not podcast uh listeners, just walk them through the process because I recognize not everybody listens to a podcast. I talk to people and tell them, Hope and I have a podcast, and they say, Oh, what's a podcast? Okay. So here's the thing.

SPEAKER_01 17:29

Yeah, so we starting from scratch there for a lot of folks. But we do have some regular listeners now, including the two in Singapore. We desperately wish you would reach out to us because just would like to know what you find interesting about the podcast in Singapore and who you are. But we hope to gain more regular listeners, and one of the ways is getting information from you about what you're interested in.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

So because we're doing this we're a a community. We're a community. We don't want to just sit here and continue to talk and talk because we can do that, but I'm sure that you would be more interested in hearing topics that are of interest to you.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

Yes. So thank you. We sincerely wish all each and every one of you a happy, healthy, prosperous 2026, a joyful one. How's that? A joyful one. And and just know that yes, the whole Harold's idea of this podcast was because he said he wanted to help build community of people, older people who whose ideas and who whose interests were not being met or discussed on all of the podcasts that he heard he listened to. As always, you know you still have time, right? Please join us for our next episode. And until then, see you soon. See you soon.