Pat Taub
GUEST POST by TOM SANTULLI
On the fridge door this Indian proverb: All we need is the morning for that is blessing enough.
The greeting sustains me, reminds me of the extraordinary luck just to be born, yet…
Outside the front door: homelessness.
A homeless encampment in LA
A few blocks away: families struggle to put food on the table, stay warm as winter comes; hesitate before taking their children to school because of terror-filled ICE raids.
Less “in my face:” midterm elections; the plight of the Palestinians, Iranians, Sudanese – many others; threat of nuclear war; racism, sexism, ageism; endless more.
Hope (OED* definition): “expectation of something desired; confident expectation of a future good.”
Hope in contemporary Western culture is likely subconsciously linked to a Christian virtue: the belief that ‘through God everlasting life will be attained;’ and opposite to the sin of despair – OED again, “a state of mind in which there is the entire want of hope.”
My generation, perhaps unique, grew up with the expectation that each day would be better; the United Nations would foster international agreements, humane goals; prosperity was inevitable and would be all around. Arms treaties, the Green Revolution, a re-invigorated women’s rights’ movement, a nascent awareness of the environment. Ample reasons for hope…
General Assembly at the UN
Hope was easy, luxurious: no active engagement required, simply be hopeful and all would fall into place. And me: materialistically comfortable, privileged white male; comfortably isolated from what the great majority of my “neighbors” throughout the world live daily.
Inevitably, that seductive dream grew tarnished, first with the assassination of Kennedy, then the war in Vietnam… yet we remained hopeful: the ship would right itself, get back on course.
American soldiers cross-examining Vietnamese
Fast forward, today: personal isolation, disillusionment, terror inflicted on peoples by their own governments around the world, the absence of truth – 1984 coming to life.
Hope, rooted in the belief that an expectation, that a desired outcome, will come is at best a luxury, a salve on barely hidden wounds, a hollow escape. What we’ve reaped is a disappointingly small yield from heretofore even smaller investments through hope alone.
Is there an antidote to hopelessness, to a loss of faith in the almost magical belief that one is justified in expecting a desired outcome?
Of course; it’s twofold: to look for resilience in what otherwise seems to be without hope, support it, and emulate it each time a seemingly unanswerable challenge appears. And, to act in response to that challenge.
Resilience, OED again: “the act of rebounding, springing back… returning to one’s original position, shape… buoyancy, recovery.”
Gazans, demonstrate remarkable resilience, forced to live in tents after Israel’s nonstop bombing leveled their neighborhoods
Like much of the world around us, we humans are by nature resilient; it’s inherent, doesn’t require an act of faith or an expectation. In the face of unfathomable oppression and degradation peoples and individuals the world over have lived in, through, and continue to face tragedy and humiliation.
Yes, often religious faith contributes, but alone will not explain the endurance of, for example, Anne Frank or Gandhi or Mandela, or the people of Gaza. And think of Albert Camus, adrift in the midst of personal turmoil and rejection by the French intelligentsia, writing, “[i]n the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”
Anne Frank
And engagement, a willingness to commit, is mandatory. In ways, great or small. Begin by questioning what’s going on, what’s become the “norm,”; understanding brings you back into the world, re-creates meaning. Purpose takes form. Then with intention, confront the otherwise exhaustingly impersonal interactions and outside events, what moments ago were “hopeless.” The way this happens will be uniquely yours.
Action and resilience bring meaning and shape to hope, which by itself is unsatisfying, non- sustaining. We were never promised “a rose garden” – our job is to set the conditions for one to grow.
*OED: Oxford English Dictionary
Tom Santulli finds strength in the sea, solitude, Rievaulx Abbey, in growing humility regained as a physician…embraces Frost’s directness, black and white photography’s elegance, Hawksmoor’s audacity, Turner’s mystery, Merwin’s soul, the natural world and Berry’s grace… is thankful for curiosity, Buddhist wisdom, the generosity of others, and especially for children and dogs everywhere.
