HOPE
Virtue: Virtue is goodness, living one's life to ethical standards. Just as I will occasionally write about the seven deadly sins, I also want to write about the other side, the seven cardinal virtues. My guide to this is James Stalker's The Seven Cardinal Virtues. Stalker was a Scottish minister who wrote in 1902. His message is truly timeless: The things he says are as relevant today as in 1902.
Hope is the quality of looking for the best, of believing that a goal is possible. Hope is optimism, a sunny outlook on life, on the future. Hope is sometimes inborn, sometimes acquired. Hope can turn a miserable reality into a pleasant situation. The opposite of hope, pessimism, can turn the best of times into misery, a pleasant reality into unhappiness. Somehow, the hopeful not only enjoy life more but achieve more. In fact, my experience tells me that hope is more important than achievement: Anticipation is usually better than arrival.
A happy few can look forward optimistically no matter how hard the road traveled, no matter how little objective reason there is to be optimistic. These people are fun to be around, encouraging to others, inspiring hope in their co-workers, family, friends, teammates. We congratulate these people and count them and ourselves fortunate: They, because they are able to be happy no matter how bad things get, we, because we can become hopeful by associating with them. They act as cheerleaders for the people who encounter them.
However, for most of us, hope requires encouragement. That is, most of us cannot hope without some level of success, cannot hope without having experienced at least some good results. For most people, it is difficult to hope in the face of continued failure, of continued dashed expectations, of continued difficulty. These are the people we need to support, to assist. These are the people for whom we need to be the cheerleaders. We are fortunate to encounter these people also. If we can help the hopeless, we will create hope in ourselves. If we can make optimists from pessimists, we will help them and we will also feel better.
Live in hope. It can only be fulfilling. Help give others hope. It can only make you feel better about yourself.
8-21-00
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