The Power of Hope

Hope is the essence of believing things will get better. This idea that no matter what the odds, there is still something worth fighting for. Even through the most despairing of situations, hope can be your guide. Like the north star is to someone lost at sea. It's when you discover hope, your real journey begins.

Hope is one of the underlining factors that produces social change. The ability to look at a specific situation and tell yourself “I'm not going to give up”. Granted, this is something that is not easy. It takes real strength to stare a horrible, gigantic problem straight in the eyes and say, “I'm going to defeat you, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday because of people like me  your existence will end”. This is the sort of thinking that separates the forlorn from the sanguine.

Heroic figures of social change like Gandhi, Cesar Chavez, and Martin Luther King all had something in common and that was their hope. They had hope in people, hope in their movements, and most importantly hope in themselves. These legends used their ambitions to transform unjust systems and will forever be remembered for it. Hope isn't only a characteristic but also a tool. Those who use hope, use it to defy the odds.  

Without hope there would never be progression. People would conform to whatever depressing norm suppresses them and never break free. Having hope is the first step to standing against everything that is wrong and taking a step towards what is right. My bottom line is to be hopeful. I implore you try it, use it , and see the sort of changes you make in your own life. Like Aristotle once said, "Hope is a waking dream".