Something Different

Hi, since I use this blog as a way to remind myself of the good in my life I thought I would do something a little different with this post. I tend to oscillate between despair and hope these days, as I’m sure many of you do, too. The world seems crazier than ever right now. I try to unplug and avoid the news, but at the same time I want to know things that are happening so I feel prepared.

Between the political killings in America, the protests and revolutions in other parts of the world, the wars, and now Poland enacting Article 4, it is so easy to run away with the despair side of myself. But, I think as humans our most powerful tool is hope. We must have hope, we must have faith that good will conquer evil. It is so integral to the human condition to have hope, that once you no longer have hope something in you breaks on a fundemental level.

I was talking to a resident at work yesterday, and we were bemoaning things happening and how scary it seems and how we worry for the future and for the children’s futures. She said something really profound to me, even though it was really simplistic.

She was born in 1938 in Hitler’s Germany. Her town waved the white flag when the Nazis came calling, and they killed the mayor anyway. I asked her if her parents worried about her and her siblings’ futures and she said they must have. But she is still here today. And so are many other Germans who grew up under that awful regime.

She said that humanity has always had these cycles of fear and hope, and that you either survive or you die. And there’s nothing we can do about that. All we can do is try to be good, try to focus on our family and our friends and live our lives. To live a life in spite of the fear is the most profound thing you can do. And she’s right.

Times are scary; every generation deals with things they don’t think they will survive. And somehow, somewhere, someone survives it. People in Gaza are surviving despite the terrible things happening to them. People in Sudan and the Congo are surviving. Humans are incredibly well versed in adapting to insane conditions. We are not the sole exceptions to this rule.

Things will be hard, things will be scary, but still we survive. People survived slavery, and that was the darkest, cruelest time anybody could ever imagine. I think the thing that makes or breaks us during these times is hope. Community. Faith. So, in a world that wants to break you, have hope. Be radically happy and hopeful whenever you can.

These are the things I am reminding myself to do every day. Talk to people that make you happy; be a light for someone else. Witness the world, stare it in the face and have hope. It would be a slap in the face to all of the people who came before to give up now. Good will prevail. Have faith that we will see the other side of this craziness, and come out better for it.

Hope is the only way out, and I am going to adopt the attitude of radical hope in my own everyday life. We have so little control in the way things shake out, but what we can control are our attitudes, our actions, and our reactions.

I know this is a lot heavier than my normal posts, but I think spreading the word of the power of hope is important. What are some ways you are practicing radical hope in your life? I’d love to hear.

Until next time, stay safe, and stay hopeful.