Let these seven pictures of the Liberty Bell fill you with hope, in the loosest possible sense of the term.

There she is. The Liberty Bell. If you’ve been feeling down on America lately, take a look at this historic bell and see if it might ignite a general feeling of patriotism somewhere inside you.

Every year, more than one million people flock to the Liberty Bell just to look at it. They must be getting something America-y out of the experience. Ideal scenario, you will, too.

The Liberty Bell has a big crack in it, but it is still standing here after all these years. Feel free to think of this as some sort of metaphor. We’ll leave the particulars up to you, but hopefully the Liberty Bell metaphor you’ve thought up has you bullish on the basic concept of America.

Liberty. Freedom. Patriot. These are all words that, fingers crossed, might come to mind when you look at the Liberty Bell.

Here are some children looking at the Liberty Bell. Even forgetting about the bell thing for a minute, it’s always inspiring to see children learning things, which they probably are in this picture.

Even if this picture just reminds you that there are 50 states in the USA, that’s a definite start.

Here’s one last picture of the bell. It may not do much for you right now, but who knows. It’s better than nothing?