![]() Plans and policies crafted by candidates can chart a way forward. Where do we find hope? Surely, ideas-both religious and secular-can inspire. Their hope was contagious, transforming communities, even nations. and Nelson Mandela were not naive optimists, but people grounded in hope. ![]() Mother Theresa, Gandhi, Cesar Chavez, Martin Luther King Jr. Grounded in hope, we are less susceptible to daily highs and lows, to demoralizing critiques and temptations to run away and forget it all. In contrast, hope is a choice that we make each day, a commitment that endures even when we don’t feel so hopeful. But these wishes are the stuff of optimism, easily forgotten. We are good at writing wish lists in the new year. Hope fuels our mind, body and spirit for the long haul, whispering or shouting when we need it: “Take heart! Keep going! The journey is worth it!” Optimism is like a sugar high that quickly fades. Hope expands our vision beyond the immediate horizon and stokes our imagination to realize a future not yet our own. While optimism may flee in the face of defeat, hope persists even in suffering. ![]() It insists that even if things do not turn out as we want right now, there is meaning in working for good with a community of people around us. Hope is a conviction rigorously grounded in reality. Optimism is naively believing that everything will be all right, when we know that reality is far more complex and messy. ![]() I’m not talking about being optimistic, but about being hopeful. While legitimate anxieties abound, finding hope in 2020 is not as difficult as we might think-if we choose to. Concerns about climate change, income divide, drug abuse, homelessness, and domestic polarization flood our screens and dominate our conversations. While we often yearn for the fresh start of a new year, it seems like there is less enthusiasm for the start of 2020. This op-ed was originally published in the San Francisco Chronicle. Philosopher Erich Fromm observed, “To hope means to be ready at every moment for that which is not yet born, and yet not become desperate if there is no birth in our lifetime.Santa Clara University President Kevin O’Brien, S.J., helps us plan for the new year in an op-ed for the San Francisco Chronicle. Hope is more resilient, more enduring, encouraging us to move forward despite setbacks. When the best possible outcome does not transpire, we are let down. It drives us to action even in dark periods. Hope is more than optimistic wishful thinking. Hope is the faith that everything evolves to the good in the fullness of time, even if we are disappointed today. Hope, in contrast, is the confidence that there is ultimate meaning even when things don’t work out as we thought. Just because we concentrate mightily doesn’t mean that the object of our concentration materializes. Just because we shut off the news doesn’t mean that it disappears. Regression lurks within the human heart, as demonstrated over the last 100 years, the most bestial in history. As the Beatles sang, “It’s getting better all the time.” American culture preaches the secular religion of “positivity”: If we just change our attitude and sublimate our negativity we can even receive a check from Publishers Clearing House. Optimism is the superficial view that everything will work out fine “because it has to.” It is a perpetual walk on the sunny side of the street. While “hope” is used interchangeably with “optimism,” the two are not synonymous. In the lights of Hanukkah and Christmas that festoon homes and bedeck public places we are mindful of the power of hope.
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