Four years ago, I began writing a blog with the tag line, “The Power and Promise of Hope.” Things have changed radically since that first post. Today, as I return to blogging I am driven to redouble my faith in the power and promise of hope.
To have confidence in hope in 2020 is an act of faith to be sure. But what else have we? Alan Keightley quoted in Paper Lanterns – More Quotations from the Back Pages of The Sun wrote, “Once in a while it really hits people that they don’t have to experience the world in the way they have been told to.”
You see for several months I have been overwhelmed with the news surrounding “current events”. Covid-19, protests, and marches. violence, civil unrest, being held captive in my own home unable to travel freely, or to enjoy a quiet meal with friends in a favorite restaurant. This is the world I am being forced to experience. This is what is passing now for “normal.” This is the world I am told to experience day after day.
I have come to realize and believe there is another way to view the world, to interact with the world, through the power and promise of hope. I am re-discovering an all-encompassing sense of hope. From where does my hope originate? My hope comes from my childhood memories. I remember hard-working parents who instilled in me a desire to be independent while never overlooking the needs of others. I remember friendly competition with my siblings as we grew to understand and appreciate one another. I remember lessons learned in church as well as lessons learned in school. I was fortunate to hear similar messages no matter where I was – do your best, help those who are in need, contribute to the common good.
I understand I am indeed fortunate to be able to recall these memories and these lessons. Others have not been so blessed. I cannot, however, squander or dismiss what I have experienced. I can only live each day in hope.
I hope we get a chance to create and live in a world of our own choosing, a world we can share with others guided by common values and virtues. I hope we will find more moments that unite us rather than divide us. I hope we will have the courage to speak to those who expect us to experience the world they have created for us – a world that is not demanding the best of human nature.
My faith tells me to do three things: 1) do no harm, 2) do all the good that I can, and 3) to stay in awe of the life set out for us by our Creator. We were created to experience a new world based on nurturing and affirming the best attributes of our shared humanity.
In my head, I keep hearing a song sung by the Youngbloods so many years ago. Let me end with one of the stanzas from that song and the chorus well known to so many.
“If you hear the song I sing you will understand (Listen) . You hold the key to love and fear all in your trembling hand. Just one key unlocks them both, it’s there at your command.
Come on people now, smile on your brother, everybody get together try to love one another now.”
That’s my hope. That’s the world I am going to find.
“The greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart.” Robert G. Ingersoll (1833-1899)
“If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today, I still have a dream.” (Martin Luther King – 1929-1968)