Right from the moment the Pandora’s Box is unfurled, to this very day, man’s life is engulfed by vices from all sides. According to the Hindu Mythology, unlike the previous yugas, it seems as if God has moved far away from mankind avoiding direct contact with humans. Jealousy and ego are the main antagonists in this performing stage called ‘World’ and we are its actors. Today, there comes no Krishna to the rescue of Modern day Draupadi. No avatar is manifested by Lord Vishnu when Mother earth drowns in oceans during tsunamis and cries her way out to save her children. There is no Gowardhan mountain lifted by Krishna to save his devotees from getting washed away by floods. No Allah or Prophet is seen eradicating the sins and wrong acts of the people. No Goddess Durga is seen on a lion destroying the terrorists and Jihadis who claim thousands of delicate and innocent lives in the war of Gaza. You convert and you go to heaven. You kill him and you go to heaven. You rape her and you go to heaven. Jihaad jihaad jihaad! Uff.. so much of destruction and negativity! One with a sensitive heart will surely wither away.
But still the earth spins in its orbit giving birth to a new day. Every single person sets his/ her alarm for the next day. What a strong hope that they will be alive the next day! At the break of dawn, the bees buzz their ways to collect honey from the blooming, beautiful flowers in the cold, dark morning. As the first ray of the sunlight emerges, the dew drops on roses beam like pearls on velvet. The tiny, pretty birds chirping indicate that he busy life of the city has begun. Children get ready to go to school with their half-opened eyes, still in mid-sleep. The fast pace of the city commences.
Isn’t this strange? All pleasant things amidst immense aggression! Only an individual element makes it all possible- the element called HOPE. Hope never comes alone; it brings with it protagonists of the society, say, love, inspiration, positivity, joy etc. Talking and knowing so much about hope – it’s now time to question ourselves. Have we ever realized that amidst all the pain, sufferings, antagonisms that one experience, life doesn’t end for him or her there…..it still continues rather clings to one protagonist called HOPE.
Psychologically speaking, hope is a thought/ feeling created by man. No such thing exists in actual real sense.. In the process, one can quite easily lose hope: in life, in God, and even in oneself. Despair is often cyclical, spiraling one into depression and helplessness, leading to even greater despair. The result is that one sad thing leads to another and so on, until we feel that we can’t possibly break free. It can all be a bit too much for our souls to handle.
As humans, we need hope. We can’t live without it. It is the lifeblood to our spiritual survival, and the only thing that pulls us out of the deep trenches of the pain and hurt if life.
But without it man’s life is impossible.
Our life entirely revolves around HOPE. A Mother carries her child in her womb for nine months in the Hope that she will give birth to her child. The child in turn pins on his /her Hope to her parents in raising him /her to be a responsible member of the family, a responsible citizen to the country. In fact, even a Saint who is supposed to renounce everything in life is driven by the HOPE that he will attain Salvation. So, Hope is the inevitable in each and everyone’s life. Even when someone says they have given up hope, they still cling to it a little bit. Hope for some people is like a lifeline, one we refuse to let go of, no matter what we may hear or even say. For some, hope really was the only thing that kept them alive.
There was one hope that every victim of the Holocaust had: that they would live to be free. They probably kept this hope in their subconscious mind up until the very end. Maybe they hoped they would suddenly be liberated on their way to the gas chambers. Maybe they hoped the SS officer would show mercy on them and put the gun down. Maybe they hoped that, for some reason, the flames in the furnaces would die, unable to be rekindled, and they, along with many others, would not be burned.
How much do you know about the Great Depression? Big things stand out, no doubt: the stock market crash, Prohibition, the New Deal. But what was life like for regular Americans who lived in, say, Washington State? Here, I bet you, there surely must have been a ray of hope deep inside every parent, hoping that the situation will become better so that they could carry loads of goodies to their kids and enjoy their heart out with their families.
Great Inventors, Navigators, Revolutionists everyone we had studied about in our history books and other great people in our present day who are creating history, had to compromise, sacrifice so much in life. They were driven to their goal point; their perseverance fuelled only by one factor – HOPE.
It’s been a journey. I still have so many questions, and I probably always will. There will always be experiences that threaten to weaken our faith—frustrations, doubts, anger—at having to pay a bill before a child can be admitted to the ER, a teenager on the street corner with her baby sniffing glue, the old man sitting on the highway in the middle of 3 lanes of busy traffic begging for help, children so weak with hunger their hair is changing colors and they can’t even hold your gaze. These experiences, sights, smells, will forever be a part of my consciousness, and I am glad, because they make more human and keep me from wasting energy on things that aren’t important. They allow me to see God in the faces of the suffering, and just try to love them. And so I no longer question if Hope exists, because I know he does. For many people that is a delusion. For it is just Hope.
BY AISHWARYA IYER
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