LJ Idol, Week 7: Hope

[threeplusfire]

I remember in 2004, watching Kerry's speech in the lunchroom at First American. I was trying to hide my tears because I worked in a very conservative office, a place where the woman serving lunch would say in all seriousness "I'm glad we are in Iraq protecting Jesus' oil!" (Honest to god, that is a real quote.) I remember the utter despair I felt in the wake of Bush's re-election and I wondered if I would ever shake that feeling.

Four years later, the world is a darker place in so many ways. But for the first time in four years, I feel like maybe things don't always have to get worse instead of better. I want to believe that a country so often riven with racial strife has done something profound by electing Barak Obama just a generation after the Civil Rights movement. I want to believe that we have voted in hope instead of fear, that we are making a change from what we have been before.

People are so often disappointing. I want so badly to believe, to be hopeful about what I think is the inherent decency of the human spirit, people doing the right thing, brotherhood and equality. I want more than anything for those things to be true, for us to rise about selfishness and ignorance to better than we are. All that idealism can feel toxic when confronted with the world. Where is hope when all we see is what has gone wrong? How can things ever be right again after so much evil? Cynicism, despair, those feelings come easy at such moments.

Hope is hard. It's much like faith, at once fragile and steely. It requires a suspension of disbelief and sacrifice, a willingness to be vulnerable and a willingness to suffer disappointments immeasurable. Hope requires a certain fearless effort to keep moving no matter the hurt, no matter the chance of failure. Hope is a choice that is not always easy. Without hope, we could not change the world and ourselves.

Nothing worth having comes without effort. To hope is to commit to believe, to dare to be greater, to be more than we are.

Comments

[shadowwolf13]

Yes we Did!

I love how honest this is.

[caersidi.livejournal.com]

Very inspiring post.

This morning I am full of hope for the world.

[brightflashes.livejournal.com]

Nothing worth having comes without effort. To hope is to commit to believe, to dare to be greater, to be more than we are.

Can entries be gorgeous? Because your entry isn't just beautiful; it's gorgeous!

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much!

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Me too! I feel as though we did something good yesterday and I hope we can keep doing that.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you! I felt so emotional while writing that I didn't know how it would come across to other readers. Thank you for your kind comment.

[plastrickland23.livejournal.com]

"Without hope, we could not change the world and ourselves. " great line to finish with. P.

[jarien.livejournal.com]

It is very true, it takes a lot of effort to have and nurture hope, to keep it safe so that it can grow into a reality.

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

I'm still blown away by the fact that we witnessed actual history being made.

It's much like faith, at once fragile and steely. It requires a suspension of disbelief and sacrifice, a willingness to be vulnerable and a willingness to suffer disappointments immeasurable.

I think you define it wonderfully :)

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I really do like it.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Funny how an emotion that can be so effervescent and light requires all that effort. (Icon love, also!)

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

I feel like I've seen two absolutely defining moments in my generation that represent the darkest and brightest parts of our history in this century. (9/11/01 and 11/04/08)

Thank you for your kind words!

[solstice-singer.livejournal.com]

This election was truly amazing. Like you, I want to hope for change. The world has been dark these past eight years.

"Jesus's oil?" How did it get to be his? I sort of thought it belonged to the Earth. Hmmm. Silly me!

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

I didn't know Jesus had a second career as an oil man... hee! That was by far one of the weirdest things I've ever heard. She was one *interesting* lunch lady.

It feels good to be hopeful about the work ahead of us.

[alycewilson.livejournal.com]

I share your hopes. We need to all work together to make this country better.

[lilmissmagic71.livejournal.com]

I haven't been this hopeful in a long time... I know what you mean.

[elderwoodpixie.livejournal.com]

Funny, one minute I'm reading a point of view on LJ Idol and the next minute I'm reading an almost opposite view. And they both appeal to me! Well done.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Thank you for sharing in this moment.

[baxaphobia.livejournal.com]

I share your hope. nice entry.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Yay! Thanks for reading.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Well awesome! You can't go wrong with that.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I'm hoping our hope continues.