Hope, like faith, cannot be blind. It needs to be active and engaged. It requires love and consciousness. And it exists in each of us.
These days hope is easily dashed. When we are hopeless we are easily misled and easily crushed. Fear becomes the dominant force.
And fear is hope’s enemy; especially the paralyzing kind that grips us when we believe there is nothing we can do.
I understand why many of my friends cannot follow the news. The facts and the fabrications are daunting. Just the numbers of worldwide refugees are enough to overwhelm us. The displacement of people due to war, natural disaster, persecution and violence have resulted in over 60 million human beings forced from their homes over the past two decades.
Sixty million children, women and men, young and old, have been driven from their homes. With daily news of over crowded camps, disease and starvation, they are crying to be recognized and desperate to be helped.
Recent events in Syria have underscored the fact that governments are not helping and are more likely the cause of forced displacement.
Hoping that our government or any government will save the day is simply blind. Religious leaders too, are often mired in politics, greed or scandal and guide with fear, not hope.
I am of the mindset that everything we need is at hand. It is not a whimsical fairy tale. It’s an idea born of experience.
Hope is the launching point of action. It is the direct result of courageous conviction and supreme trust. And it is born in the heart of an individual who refuses to surrender to ignorance.
I will leave you with these words of Desmond Tutu: “Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”
let kindness win 