Much has been made during the last 21 months about HOPE.
Barack Obama has run his campaign on the ideas of Hope, Change, "Yes We Can," and that we can all be better than we are.
Some people have made fun of these ideas. They've said they're not substantive enough. Hope doesn't solve the problems we face as a nation - international terrorism, a crumbling economy, dependency on foreign oil, high unemployment, a mortgage crisis, teen pregnancy, hunger, illiteracy, poverty, AIDS, etc.
Nope, Hope doesn't solve them any of them. I'll grant you that.
But there's one thing Hope does.
Hope is what gets us out of bed when we're feeling despair. Hope is what we see in a newborn baby's face. Without Hope, people die. Hope allows us to start over when we lose everything in a hurricane or flood or because of sub-prime mortgages. With Hope we can go on just one more day.
My favorite quote from the Bible is Hebrews 11:1 "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen."
When I started Little Merry Sunshine almost 18 months ago, I planned on it being entirely about what I'm grateful for, what inspires me, the warm and fuzzies of life. In other words, HOPE. It's not that I've ever given up on that, but from time to time, I've written snarky posts. I've gone too far down the "them and us" road. And in the process, my readership has skyrocketed. I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for my ever-increasing readership numbers.
The thing is, I'm tired. I'm tired of "them vs. us." I'm tired of the divide. As human beings and Americans, there's far more that unites us than will ever divide us.
No matter what happens tonight, I vow to go back to that theme of Hope. I promise to focus on the good. Of the many lessons we've learned over the last 21 months, we've seen how temper tantrums, anger, and fear are not the only way to achieve success.
The opposite of Hope is Fear. And they can't survive together.
We've lived in fear for the last 8 years. It's time to live in Hope.
Barack Obama has run his campaign on the ideas of Hope, Change, "Yes We Can," and that we can all be better than we are.
Some people have made fun of these ideas. They've said they're not substantive enough. Hope doesn't solve the problems we face as a nation - international terrorism, a crumbling economy, dependency on foreign oil, high unemployment, a mortgage crisis, teen pregnancy, hunger, illiteracy, poverty, AIDS, etc.
Nope, Hope doesn't solve them any of them. I'll grant you that.
But there's one thing Hope does.
Hope is what gets us out of bed when we're feeling despair. Hope is what we see in a newborn baby's face. Without Hope, people die. Hope allows us to start over when we lose everything in a hurricane or flood or because of sub-prime mortgages. With Hope we can go on just one more day.
My favorite quote from the Bible is Hebrews 11:1 "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen."
When I started Little Merry Sunshine almost 18 months ago, I planned on it being entirely about what I'm grateful for, what inspires me, the warm and fuzzies of life. In other words, HOPE. It's not that I've ever given up on that, but from time to time, I've written snarky posts. I've gone too far down the "them and us" road. And in the process, my readership has skyrocketed. I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for my ever-increasing readership numbers.
The thing is, I'm tired. I'm tired of "them vs. us." I'm tired of the divide. As human beings and Americans, there's far more that unites us than will ever divide us.
No matter what happens tonight, I vow to go back to that theme of Hope. I promise to focus on the good. Of the many lessons we've learned over the last 21 months, we've seen how temper tantrums, anger, and fear are not the only way to achieve success.
The opposite of Hope is Fear. And they can't survive together.
We've lived in fear for the last 8 years. It's time to live in Hope.
