If we were to summarize the year so far in one word, it would have to be uncertainty. With all that is happening in the world right now, could anyone have guessed things would get this bad? From the upcoming election, to the senseless violence between police and citizens, to the seemingly never-ending terrorist attacks, it is more difficult now than ever to believe that there is any good left in this world.

It is widely stated that history repeats itself, and to an extent that is very true. There are always going to be bad things going on in the world -- and no, that is not just pure pessimism.

There are always going to be people like Trump, who preach messages of fear and hatred. He is not the first to do so, and he certainly will not be the last.

There are always going to be people like Hillary, who should not be winning but who is winning regardless.

There are always going to be those who try to take hope away from us. People who will kill and destroy and take lives in the name of their own warped ideologies.

There will always be oppressors, who try to silence those they deem unworthy of equality.

There is always going to be darkness. It is the one constant throughout history.

Bad people are always going to be around and bad things are going to happen, it seems to just be the nature of our fallen world.

That does not mean, however, that this world is without hope. It does not mean that we should just give in to the darkness around us.

History repeats itself, for sure -- though darkness may seem to overtake us, it never manages to stay around forever. We always manage to fight back. We always manage to stand up to the oppression. We always manage to fight back darkness with our light.

We are living in a time where we are being divided and if we allow ourselves to, we will be split into different factions, constantly fighting, and letting darkness and hostility win.

Now more than ever, we have to stand together as one and support each other through these trying times. We must stay strong and fight hatred with love and division with unity. We may not know what the future holds for us, but we have to keep going and pushing through the unknowns.

One of my favorite dialogues from any book has to be Sam's speech from "The Two Towers," the second book in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

"I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something."

"What are we holding onto, Sam?"

"That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo...and it's worth fighting for."

These words hold a strong power -- hope. Though our circumstances may seem bleak, this too shall pass.

Let us hold on to hope.

Let us hold on to peace.

Let us hold on to love.

We are the future. We wield the power to bring the light against the darkness.

Let's start acting like it.