In retrograde, a sense of hopefulness has lived within each decade, propelling us forward and integrating a mindset of prosperity into past generations. 

Every decade brings a new wave of social change: the 70s brought us a wave of feminism, the 80s brought Cold War protesters and pacifism, the 90s brought upon the birth and death of grunge, and come 2000s, brought the technology boom. 

Each of these waves of change came out of a place of anger, grief and unjust, and now? 

We have anger, we are grieving, we feel unjust, yet we are left rudderless-contrasting the hope that lived in past decades. 

As a society, we are moving backwards in the sense that all of the unjust and anger and building within us, as we’ve seen changes, both social and political, take place and reform American society, yet this achievement level has been unattainable to us, given our political climate. 

The 1930s and 40s were a time of cooperation and neighbor-helping-neighbor, as America as a whole worked to land on its feet and find a new norm after the effects of World War II and The Great Depression took place. 

It doesn’t take much analyzing to figure that in no sense does the 2019 America work to lift each other up. 

This isn’t a new revolution, as it has been brewing since the origins of our otherwise broken government system began. Despite this, we are now at a time where living under two different ‘isms’ creates a drive within us that further polarized. 

The 2010s will be known as the decade of school shootings an ineffective push for gun control, or lack thereof, the Trumpian era, the rise of #MeToo and Black Lives Matter. 

One thing that these concepts have as a commonality is the fact that they still have yet to be dealt with, despite their successes. 

For example, Tarana Burke founded the #MeToo movement in 2006, yet it had not become a household and wideworld movement until 2017. This is a prime case of the rudderlessness and level of stagnation we are submerged in. 

To further this idea, the KKK rose to its loathsome fame during the 1910s, which makes a direct parallel between the organization supporting President Trump publically, during the late 2010s.

This correlation within itself shows the stagnation in society throughout the past 100 years. 

This stagnation, although it had been brewing long-term, has come to light within the decade we are about to leave. The notion behind this quiet desperation cannot be left to one cause alone. 

Political polarization, climate change ideals and increased prevalence of mental health, among other factors, have created a concoction of desperation within our Westernized culture, in a way that hasn’t been seen before. 

With the disparity of the 2010s moments away from being in the past, the 2020s have the opportunity to reap new-found ideals of wholeness to our society; our government and our culture have the potential to be built up, into something we can all be proud of, but our foundational mindset must contain a sense of community, cooperation and prosperity to propel us positively into the new decade.