Hope – Entwining

The dictionary defines hope as “desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment”. This common definition evokes the idea of gratification, happiness, our dreams coming true. It describes wanting something and thinking that what we want will magically appear. It is high on waiting for others to act and low on taking action oneself. This is the hope of wistful imagination, of secret longings, of sitting and watching.

This common definition is the hope of believing that a presidential candidate can take care of everything – “I alone can fix it,” as one of the contenders famously said. With this mindset, we cast our votes once every four years and then sit back, believing our job is done. In fact, we must do the constant work of building our communities and society. We must organize ourselves, connect with our neighbors and colleagues, decide on our collective dreams, and hold our political leaders at all levels accountable to making those collective dreams a reality.

This common definition is the hope of praying for God to solve our problems. With this mindset, we ask a cosmic being to resolve our challenges and wait for them to do so. In fact, we must do the work of joining with one another to build and repair our communities. We must do the self-reflection that allows us to discover that we don’t really need all the things we think we need, that we can get by on less, but that less still has to include one another.

This common definition is the hope of putting our faith in outside institutions – corporations, the government, the police, the military – to resolve our difficulties. With this mindset, we ask groups of others to do what we are unwilling to do ourselves. In fact, what happens to us is in our own collective hands. This doesn’t mean that we are to be blamed for our misfortunes. When a family is bankrupted by medical debt, it doesn’t mean that they are at fault and should be on their own. It means that we all must work to create the kind of society that doesn’t leave them on their own, that provides healthcare through existing institutions, that doesn’t throw people into the winds of the free market to land where they may.

For me, hope is the belief that we can make something good in tomorrow. It doesn’t mean expecting everything will be solved or cured or healed, nor that we can solve or cure or heal everything. It means holding onto our own ability to create and appreciate the small beauties of the world. It means trusting that we can discover those small beauties even among the cracks and fissures.

This hope is solitary, in that we must make it our own work to search for and create those small beauties. But this hope is also collective, in that it is amplified when we join together. As we combine the resonance of our individual hopes, they vibrate in concert, creating a melody that is more than the sum of its parts. Our individual hope can give us sustenance when times are difficult. Our collective hope can shake down the walls of oppression. Our individual hope can help us get through the day. Our collective hope can transform societies. Our individual hope can inspire others. Our collective hope can change the world.

We cannot allow hope to be a passive desire. We must make it an act of creation.