Hope Is A Decision
Feb 3rd, 2008 | By Suzanne | Category: Accountability | |If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all.
- Martin Luther King, Jr., “The Trumpet of Conscience”
I have been playing the Yes We Can song over and over since my sister sent me the link. What stands out to me is the bridge of the song:
We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics who will only grow louder and more dissonant.
We’ve been asked to pause for a reality check.
We’ve been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.
But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.
So many times, I have been told I cannot do something by that chorus of cynics.
So many times, I have been asked to pause for a reality check.
So many times, I’ve been warned against offering (myself and others) false hope, and when I look back, the story of my life is quite unlikely, as well.
Webster defines hope as desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment, so hope is a choice. A decision. A way of living your life. It is not, as some would have you believe, a passive way of living. Hope keeps you moving toward your goals, it keeps you in action and carries you through.
And hope can be passed from one person to another. We can share our hope with others, lend them ours when theirs is waning.
Yes. We. Can.
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See Also:
- Yes, We Can
- Dream A Little Dream Each Day
- Get Your Groove On With Skinny Songs
- Make the Impossible Possible
- When Donkeys Fly and Other Milestones
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February 4th, 2008 7:32 am :
Great article, Suzanne! The best thing is, the more we insist on hope and a positive outlook, the less that chorus of cynics is drawn to us. After a while, they fall away and we draw to ourselves like-minded people that offer a true support system for us.
Thanks for linking to this great song!
Blessings,
Andrea
Andrea Hess|Empowered Soul’s last blog post..How to Practice Detachment
February 13th, 2008 5:13 pm :
Yes you can - inspire me. Hope sometimes gets a bad rap in the self-development community. Some think it doesn’t have enough teeth to it. But sometimes that’s all we have to grab onto is a feeling of hope. I like the way you present it here. It’s strong. Thank you.
Tom Volkar / Delightful Work’s last blog post..You Are WHO You Hang With and WHAT Hangs Around You
February 13th, 2008 6:08 pm :
Andrea - you’re so right - that IS how we draw like-minded people to us and create a true support system for ourselves. I don’t know that the chorus of cynics falls away as much as we pay less and less attention to them until we can’t hear them anymore.
I guess it’s six of one, half a dozen of the other, though, because the net effect is when we refuse to give up hope, when we ‘focus on our desires accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment of’ them, we’re conscious of who we really are - powerful, creative beings pursuing our purposes! Ooohh…gives me tingles just to type that!
Tom - thank YOU. I’ve noticed the same thing (the bad rap) and am always surprised by it. Hope may not have many teeth, but it sure is strong. It has to be though - particularly when it’s all we have to grab onto. To me, hope is the foundation of everything else. Otherwise, what’s the point?