NEVER HOPE ALONE
I have been paying attention lately, listening for the pronouns folks use when they talk about hope. By far, the pronoun I hear most often is “I”. As a result, I have begun to wonder if hope is a solitary endeavor, something one covets for oneself.
On the one hand, we have Mother Teresa and her work with AIDS patients. She said, “We want to create hope for the person…we must give hope, always hope.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, “One should…be able to see things as hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise.”
Euripides said, “Ten thousand men possess ten thousand hopes.”
Daniel Berrigan wrote, “The gift we can offer others is so simple a thing as hope.”
I believe hope is meant to be shared with others. Hope that isn’t shared is like a miser who, although he has amassed great wealth, will not part with his fortune. That which could have provided him with the means to live a comfortable life ends up producing anxiety and needless worry for this sad individual.
Dr. Bernie Siegel has said, “Refusal to hope is nothing more than a decision to die.”
An anonymous writer offered this, “Hope is the anchor of the soul, the stimulus to action, and the incentive to achievement.”
Jacque Cousteau wrote, “If we were logical, the future would be bleak indeed. But we are more than logical. We are human beings, and we have faith, and we have hope, and we can work.”
And finally, Orison Marden has said, “There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something tomorrow.”
There is a place for one’s own sense of, and experience with, hope. It’s what helps us greet each new day with enthusiasm and purpose. Hope guides us towards a goal, perhaps leading us to something unseen that offers a promise of constant peace and joy.
Hope is meant to be shared. Hope finds its true power and promise when it touches the lives of others.
“Hope is the anchor of the soul, the stimulus to action, and the incentive to achievement.” (Anon.)
I hope to leave this life with the knowledge that I have shared the power and promise of hope with at least one person. I hope that my life and my witness will be an example to others of the absolute gift we might share, the gift of hope, the gift of realizing true happiness and fulfillment in our lives.
What is your source of hope? With whom have you shared your hope?
The world is in need of hope. Together, people of hope can change hearts, change attitudes, change outcomes. This is our challenge. This is not a solitary endeavor. This is the help and the hope we need to share with one another.
My source of hope lies with the many millennials I come across mostly because I’m the parent of one. I believe Socrates was once also hopeful when he reportedly wrote, “Without conversation, there is no life.” That is to live in one’s own head without being conversant could be somewhat hopeless. In this partisan, hateful era, it would be easy to give up hope. Naturally, hope for a better tomorrow can coexist even in tumultuous times.
Let’s hope so Cliff. Thanks for your thoughtful comment.