Hope
Will tomorrow be better than today?
Will today be better than yesterday?
Will next month be better than five or ten years ago?
There are days I believe… there are days I feel that life is trending positively. And, then there are those other days when it seems the best is behind me.
Isn’t that why we as a collective unity came up with the notion of heaven, the idea that things eventually will be paradise?
I know I want to believe that things will eventually become perfect, but that doesn’t meant it’s true. I want to know that my burdens, the things that I’m carrying around will be lighter and easier to deal with in the future.
How can any of us know that things are getting better?
Possible sources of maintaining hope:
- I want it to be true. I want to believe that things are getting better even though I know that I am not and that death will come for me one day. But, can I believe myself to believe what I want to be true? That hardly makes sense.
- Religious officiants. Do I trust the clergy who proclaim nirvana and paradise on the other side? I have learned to be suspect of all salespersons, religious ones included.
- How about reason? Professor Steven Pinker tells us that the world in a global sense indeed is getting better. The income gap between rich and poor, while still not ideal, is a lot better than it used to be. In a global sense, I’m much less likely to die by being stabbed. But, having faith that my life is improving is not a global issue.
So what is it that can give me hope?
The poet Emily Dickinson said that hope is the thing with feathers. Langston Hughes, another poet, tells us that life without hope is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.
Hope is essential to life.
But, from where does it come?
You tell me… what gives you hope on a daily basis?
