There is a feeling that things will get better

“The first reason for optimism is, at least, the fact that winter is finally coming to an end. We won’t have any of those problems that were not resolved during the winter time – and this, I believe, is already a good reason for optimism. What concerns the social changes in general, now we really see complete uncertainty of the situation in many aspects. That uncertainty creates the overall pes­si­mis­tic image. We see that in the political sphere the situation is not clear and in the economic sphere Uk­rai­ne has not yet solved its main prob­lems, even the fundamental problem – the association with the EU or rein­te­gra­tion into the post-Soviet space. If all of these problems will not be resolved, it seems that there will be no tactical reason for optimism. However, the fact that people still believe that in 10 to 20 years these problems will be eventually resolved is always a good reason for optimism, as seen in our re­search [Holovakha is Deputy Director of the Institute of Sociology. – Ed.]. Thus, the reason for optimism is basically the inner feeling that we are not doomed for such state of affairs. Although, at this point, I see no tactical reasons for optimism for what is going to happen in the near future.

 “As for the strategic reasons for optimism, it is definitely spring and the fact that there is still peace. People also always have purely personal or family, career, children related reasons to be optimistic about their lives. And it has always been that way. When we conduct our surveys, people are always more optimistic about their own life than that of the society. Thus, until the crucial social problems are not yet resolved, let’s focus on solving our own problems. By the way, if people start to solve their own problems, it can become the beginning of solving social problems as well.”