Hope
Tisdale - Wednesday, November 30, 2011
There is one concept that may be both the most impressive and also the most depressing thing about human beings.
Most other life forms that we know about have a pretty limited level of self awareness. We suspect that many animals we associate with have the ability to see beyond the next bite to eat. Horses, dogs and perhaps cats all seem to be able speculate to a certain extent "what happens next." Ravens and to a very limited extent, some of our closest relatives, the chimpanzee, seem to be able point, or gesture to one another, that some object might have merit. Elephants live a very long time compared to other animals, as do the marine mammals, but we just don't know what use they can make of their memory and the ability to use some forms of communication. Humans do remember and their memory gives them the opportunity to learn from past experience, from careful observation, we know that ravens can identify hostile humans and take precautions to defend themselves from such beings. But we spend significant amounts of time considering not only the past and present, but we plan and consider the future with both positive and negative possibilities.
Each year in very late December, I make it a habit to speculate and put down in print my thoughts about the coming year. Since neither I, nor anyone I know of, accurately has even the most basic skills in predicting what might come to pass, I still do it anyway, the thought being that perhaps I might stumble upon a means by which I can refine this unknown skill. This concept undies almost everything intellectual people do, this also forms the basis for just about everything every one does. Be they Rider fans, farmers, cancer victims, or the millions who buy lottery tickets every week, we "hope."
Each and every day we are confronted with overwhelming evidence that positive outcomes are only possible on a very limited basis. Consider the baseball player who knows that being good means something like between two out of ten times at bat may be good enough, while three out of ten is above average. When manufacturers create the flat touch screens for iPads, iPhones and iPods, they usually throw away a little more than half of what they make, in order to produce acceptable saleable quality screens. As the production increases on the same product, the number of rejects fall somewhat ,but even under the best of conditions, levels of success above 60% are unusual. When we look at all of our endeavours, no matter what they might be, we develop an understanding that "good enough" is what we are aiming for.
Just listen to a group of people talking about any project they are contemplating and notice how often people say the grammatically incorrect phrase “hopefully,” we know they should say "it is to be hoped" but "hopefully" is "good enough" for most discussion. In English we encourage each other as we talk about something by finishing each statement with the pitch of our voices rising slightly, that rise in pitch is "hope."
When we see the rising sun, we hold the key to a new day in our minds eye, just as spring is the hope for a new growing season, first light is the hope for a new day. No doubt, a cloudy gloomy dawn has a dampening affect on one's spirits, but for the vast majority, there is always hope that it will clear off, there is hope that the wind will die down, there is hope that it will warm up, hope is the positive structure on which we construct the framework of each day.
Each beginning, is laced with hope. The first star to appear in the sky gets a wish, the first taste of a cup of coffee holds the promise of a warm flavoured drink and a peaceful time to savour it and our thoughts, we lay down to sleep after a silent prayer of hope, we open a message on a screen quickly skimming for a positive piece of information. Not only, do we launch each adventure with hope, but we cherish the very idea of hope itself, for we all dread with utter horror the possibility of hopelessness.
Depression can be chemical, it can be irrational, or it may be based on reality, the realization that something very bad has happened. Where it becomes uncontrollable, is when that bad feeling replaces life sustaining hope.
Listen carefully to what we say to one another, even when it seems like a trivial remark, we are telling each other to keep up hope; "have a good day," "take care,” "enjoy your trip" even "cold enough for you,” is accompanied by a smile and gesture. Greetings often include advise based on hope.
The celebration of birthdays is especially poignant when you realize how much it involves hope.
Check out the melody of a person talking on the telephone. The initial greeting is most often, “hello,” with the "oh" vowel sound rising to alert the caller of "hope," or if you suspect it is telephone spam, the "hello" will dive downward with a harsh edge fading rather then abruptly ending the "oh" vowel sound. The voices on television commercials emphasis the hope that the product offers, even the distressing drug commercials listing the terrible side affects, end with the wondrous hope that the drug offers, "talk to your doctor about this drug to see if its right for you."
Think of the excitement that accompanies getting something new in your life, it’s not the thing that is important it is the hope that it has, the potential that causes the excitement. We have all heard how adult men think about sex so often each day. What is remarkable about that is not the sexuality that is uplifting is the possibility of sexuality that is the driving force just as this very important act of pleasure is so much associated with various body parts when the whole event is totally a mental process. Victoria Secret is not a goal but rather a hope, a potential that is just a bit beyond your reach and that is the point of it all.
"Ah but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for." (Robert Browning, Andrea del Sarto)
