Hope
OK, yeah, I guess you figure we’ve done the hope thing already. Well, apologies for getting all thoughtful again, but there’s a new song at the end of this, so try to hang in just a tiny little bit.
Hope had a day in the sun, so to speak, back in the Obama era: as his 2008 campaign slogan (“Hope”) and as the theme of his best-selling book The Audacity of Hope.
“How’s that hopey changey thing working out for ya?”
Sarah Palin famously dissed Obama’s vision during his first term. I’m not sure that maligning hope is something to be proud of, but … whatever, ya know, you betcha.
The year 2020 was a trying time for everyone, and it was also the fourth year of a very trying Presidency. That last bit is true for some of us anyway. I do try to steer somewhat clear of politics in these posts, but I can’t always help myself. In a recent episode of Slate’s Political Gabfest podcast, Emily Bazelon says
“I think I thought that, like, there was this, you know, awfulness around the election and a kind of hangover from it. And then I held out some hope that we were going to just, like, wake up and move on and, like, drink our coffee and eat our eggs and, like, go for a nice walk or even run.”
There’s that hope thing again, rearing its optimistic head.
My mother died at the age of 95, after a long slow decline. Mentally she was still pretty sharp, but in her last few years she seemed to lose interest in most things. She would perk up on occasion — family events or visits, say — but during her final months she expressed annoyance that she was still alive. Basically she was just waiting to die — she was done. I don’t remember exactly how she phrased it, but it was clear that this was how she felt. She no longer looked forward to anything. She was annoyed that she didn’t feel very good and that she kept having to hang in for yet another day. She had lost any hope that life was “worth living”, as we are prone to say.
If I had been a bit more thoughtful I might have engaged my mother more about this stage of her life and possibly gained some insight into her perspective. On second thought, I’m not sure I would have done it anyway. I do wonder what exactly I would have have asked. Who was I to put her on the spot re how it felt to have lost her delight in being alive?
It’s hard to talk about hope without dragging religious beliefs into the discussion, but I’m going to do my best not to. My classic approach is to ask some kind of “first principles” question like “Why do we hope?” Lots and lots has been written or said about hope. It seems to be a universal “practice”, some manifestation of raw optimism coupled with a belief that you can find a way to achieve your goals. Why do we choose hope over its opposite? Do we choose it at all, or is it an innate feature of a “healthy” mind? Do you need religious faith to sustain and make sense of it?
I HAVE NO IDEA. Nonetheless it seems to me that we human beings are predisposed to be hopeful. This post is a kind of companion to my recent “Why Bother?” post. A friend responded to that one with this observation: “And why bother? Cuz. Cuz it feels better than not, principally.” There you go.
Recently I heard a woman on the radio say that she is opting not to have kids because she is pessimistic about the future — climate change, political instability, etc. We’ve heard this point of view expressed before. I understand it, but, call me a cockeyed optimist, I’m unable to go there. Ultimately hope isn’t rational, so I’m not going to try to convince anybody. Even though I’m going to have some moments of Down versus Up, generally I’m just going to be hopeful — can’t help myself.
“Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it and to work for it and to fight for it.” - Barack Obama
I’m good with that. Not long ago I did write a song about hope. As I said before, it’s a kind of companion to the song “Hard to be Up When You’re Down”. So while I may be languishing, I am hopeful:
And as I always say, over and over, ever hopeful, send me your thoughts about anything, either in the comments on this page or by emailing me directly at guy@storytownband.com. And please share this post with a friend who might enjoy it.
Until next week….