Bringing Hope
I smile…a lot. Many times my brother has asked me in a teasing tone “why you always smiling’?” Most of the time I would remain silent. One time I answered “Sometimes you have to smile to keep from crying.” The answer wasn’t contrived, it came out, though I don’t know if it is true. I don’t even know if my mind simply makes the muscles move because its easier than frowning or crying all the time or if I adopted it as the least threatening facial expression to save myself from a host of beatings. I don’t know, I have a resting smiley face.
As a result, I am more joyful, Cracking a grin when I feel like s^#% is the quickest way to brighten my own day. A difficult and heavy burden is made lighter, in my personal experience, not by making believe that you are happy to carry it, but carrying it with a smile…and there is a difference.
I believe in people’s power too. I say that..a lot. So much so that one of the women at my work place that I trained to do my job says it to herself during a particularly difficult task. She laughs and she always lets me know whenever it happens. I say it a lot to the population I work with, and for a while it was just something that I said, until I really learned to believe in them, their capabilities, their power. Now its real. I really do believe.
By letting them know that I believe in them, I gave them license to believe in themselves. In those times they surprised me. They taught me that I could believe while riding on the wings of the five little words that said I did.
I wonder, can we fashion hope? If I can arouse myself to anger with a thought, or to fear with a thought, isn’t the same true for hope? Sure it isn’t instantaneous. Unlike anger and fear, arousing hope takes work.
Despair is the anti-thesis of hope. Its dementor. Hope, I can’t believe exists in the state of despair. Hope in the pit of despair must come from an outside source. Its something we bring to the table when we have it, knowing we may not always and that someone may have to bring it to us.
When we see someone in the pit of despair, it may not be readily clear to us how they can get out or even that they can get out, but our creed doesn’t advise us to bring hope only to those who we are sure can get out. It only says to bring it.
Each person’s manner of bringing hope will be different. Its why I don’t presume to teach a method. I only know it can be done for many have done it for me.
