Why We Hope

"There are three that remain: faith, hope and love…"

-Paul of Tarsus, first century.

 

It’s funny how we have eliminated the middleman.

 

Faith is the bedrock of our human experience; it is the starting point from which every person who has ever lived has constricted a system or code to govern behavior, morality, and ethics. This concept has been expounded on, preached about and philosophized over by countless people. Faith allows us to hold on and maintain perspective in the midst of the most hostile of environments imaginable. Steps are taken and solutions are pursued in the fragile grasp of faith. It is the mortal enemy of fear.

 

Love might be the most written about and discussed topic in the history of the universe. Everyone has a concept or definition of what it means to love or be loved. This ambiguous idea sets hearts ablaze, inspires bravery and heroics, and breaks even the hardest hearts. We argue about it and sing to it and want to feel it and share it. I don't need to elaborate on love because everyone else already has. Even the most polarized groups can agree that love is vital to our existence. And as great as faith and love are, something else is on this list: hope.

 

But what about hope; what about the middleman?

 

I’m not offering an exegetical or hermeneutic exposition on what hope is and what it means. I’m not really qualified to do that, and many smarter people would probably disagree with me. All I can do istell you what hope means to me. As a notorious questioner, I often find myself looking around this planet and am heartbroken by the depletion of hope. People give up on life every day; hope is smothered by a bleak reality.

 

So, how do I find hope in this world? What is hope, anyway? I don’t think it’s letting society or others off the hook for all the things I don’t understand. And I refuse to believe it entails sticking my head in the sand while catastrophe seemingly runs amuck, unfettered by the cosmos. I think hope is staring into the face of dismal uncertainty or unthinkable tragedy while realizing we are not alone. There is comfort and solace in community. The metaphorical movement of people who want to bring change is not as symbolic as we think. We are a living, breathing organism that sustains one another in dire times.

 

Hope is that sometimes-irrational feeling that life will get better. We can look around and see that even though progress and technology has given us improved ways to create calamity, the root of evil has been around a long time. People have always committed  questionable acts, and by our thinking, people also dole out unquestionable grace. It is easy to point a finger at society and rail against the injustice we sometimes see. But will we also take those same fingers and put them to good use in order to inspire hope in others.

 

Its up to us and I hope we understand.