Hope

Just as giving as an unconditional act, hope is about overcoming adversity and dedicating oneself to a long-term effort to bring about change. I recently read this statement about hope, and I found it a wonderful reminder to keep the big picture in focus while tending to the day-to-day detail of what we do. It was posted on March 21st by Paul Raushenbush, the Religion Editor for the Huffington Post, talking about the difference between “optimism” and “hope.” (My apologies to Mr. Raushenbush for taking his post somewhat out of context.)

. . . [O]ptimism won't carry you very far in politics, faith or life. Hope is different than optimism. Optimism assumes that everyone will be happy clappy and go along with the program, and then crumples when they don't. In contrast, hope inspires endurance, and requires serious work. Optimism is a luxury for those who can afford to lose. Hope is for people for whom there is no alternative but to persevere. It was not optimism that carried the great civil rights movements of the last century, it was hope that made a way when there was no way, and squeezed justice out of the bitter fruit of persecution. Hope is tied to a belief in something greater than oneself (if only the collective wisdom of humanity) that wills this world to be a better place. As Rabbi Jonathan Sacks wrote "Hope is the faith that, together, we can make things better. Optimism is a passive virtue, hope is an active one. It takes no courage to be an optimist, but it takes a great deal of courage to have hope. Hope is the knowledge that we can choose; that we can learn from our mistakes and act differently next time. That history is not a trash bag of random coincidences blown open by the wind, but a long slow journey to redemption."
The promise that progress is possible, and that history is kind to those who work for the common good echoes the famous profession of hope by the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. who reminded us that the "arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice." . . . .

The courage of hope is why people persevere in ending hunger. I believe that long arc is indeed bending toward justice, and that we can end hunger in this country in my lifetime.