Abstract

Hope in a Time of Fear

The article looks at the importance of hope in society for bringing about social and political change. Any clear-eyed view of the world recognizes that grave threats exist: war, environmental destruction, the runaway power of corporate greed. To make matters worse, those in power often take advantage of real threats, like terrorism, by exploiting fear and feelings of vulnerability for their own gain. The antidote to such fear and silence is hope: defiant, resilient, persistent hope. Hope is a way of looking at the world--more than that, it is a way of life. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the stories of those who persist under the most dangerous conditions. Even in a seemingly losing cause, one person may unknowingly inspire another, and that person yet a third, who could go on to change the world, or at least a small corner of it. Even if the struggle outlives us, conviction matters. Actions of conscience confirm the link between our fate and that of everyone and everything else on the planet, respecting and reinforcing the fundamental connections without which life itself is impossible.