Sunday, March 25, 2007

WHY WE NEED HOPE


WHY WE NEED HOPE

While there is no dearth of hope in this world, actually, there is quite an economy that operates on selling hope and dreams, and earn big bucks; there are reasons to be skeptical about hope. Why do we need hope? I mean, we all know that while that song about hope, that nice motivational lecture you last attended, that movie you saw, that news report you saw where justice had been delivered finally, are feel good factors with a low shelf life. Then, before you know it, darkness descends again. Stuff happens to people who do no wrong. Psychos turn enemies and friends turn psychos. Another irony about life is that there is this pattern to it. When things are going all right, and you actually start believing that things are as nice as they seem, they suddenly change their color scheme to the exact opposite. While we keep reading about the battle between the wrong and right, the good and the evil, nothing prepares us for the evil present in good, and the wrongs the rights commit. The only resultant that remains, and is actually more faithful than any of these factors, is cynicism. At least doubt is permanent.

Hope on the other hand, is like drugs. It gives you a temporary high, but then, reality strikes and you have to face the consequences. One of my dear friends once said, that hope is a fools weapon. There are times when I almost agree. Look at this world! Everyday, things seem to be getting worse. The crimes against innocent, the crimes on the streets and on the internet. You can’t trust anyone, you can’t depend on anyone. People you know, show sides you would rather not see. All this not only weakens Gods and goods case, but also that of hope. Forgive me for acting the devils advocate, but happiness, trust, virtue, good and God, all disappear when you need them most. Pain and hatred at least stay. You can never predict or claim, that if you are fair to people, they shall be fair with you. That if you do good, you will get good in return. But I can bet that if you do something bad, you shall receive bad. if you kick someone, you can trust them to retaliate. But if you hug someone, you can’t trust them to reciprocate.

It isn’t a comforting thought, but then there is that miniscule element of conformity, and at least that, is something that hope doesn’t have. Cynics say that hope is a pretty good way of spending the time in between two tragedies. Your life may not actually be beautiful, but at least it will seem beautiful. That cynic is me. It makes you question, why do we need hope? So that motion picture industry can earn mega bucks? So that motivational speakers and religious leaders don’t have to go search for new jobs? I mean, if life isn’t going to be fair, why bother with hope and things like that? Why not join the bandwagon and become as indestructible a destroyer as you can. People wont dare hurt you, because they know that you will respond to a slap, with a sword. No one shall mess with you, and if that doesn’t happen, you can pretty much live life your way. I mean, then it can be fair, or blue or orange. After all, when every human being starts keeping a gun in their overcoat, the only way to ensure that you are safe, is to carry a tank and an army. So that any time someone shoots at you, you blast their existence off this planet.

BINGO!! Exactly. Aren’t these gun totters the very people whose menace we try to hope against. I mean, if things just go wrong, if there is a tsunami, you don’t complain much. Its when your friends disappoint you. its when people you don’t even know, come and hurt you for no reason. Its when crime happens. Its when bombs drop from the sky like bird dropping. Its when an indestructible destroyer wannabe comes with a toy tank and pokes you, scaring you into believing it’s a real tank, that you hope. Then, you question hope. Then you question fairness. Then you kill hope and convince yourself that world is not going to be fair. Then, you know that you can be unfair too. Then, you become one of those very people you were trying to thwart. You become exactly what you battled against.

Its ironic, that even though hope seems inconsequential in this battle called life, it seems that it’s the death of hope that starts this battle in the first place. Why do we need hope? To validate fairness? No. fairness isn’t just some pinky sweety concept created by human mind. It is the fulcrum of this planet. It is the conclusion of the experiment called life. Life isn’t fair because you pray everyday so Gods watching and everything. Life is fair, because in this world, nothing is created nor destroyed. What goes around, comes around. Matter and anti matter exist together. When you suck out the space, you will get vacuum. It wont all end. When you forsake your ideals, something in you dies. It wont come alive when you really need yourself. No human being can sleep well with a guilty conscious. If you hurt someone, it will deprive you of sleep, or worst, numb that area in your mind which tells you what you are doing is wrong. Which means, you have committed partial suicide!!! Which is rather foolish.

We don’t need hope to validate fairness. Fairness is probably too profound for us to grasp, because we think that every time someone hits us in face, they will immediately turn back and fall in the ditch. We don’t see that their hand hurts as much as our chin, and somewhere in their mind, something right just disappeared. Then, thinking that hopes waste, and we can slap around, we become the same, and start slapping people. There are others who cry and whine and basically become ultimate destroyers of hope. They are the kinds who tell you, “ whatever you want, you will not get. Whatever you fear and hate, will eventually become your destiny.”

We don’t need hope to live our lives for us. To fight our battles or to make things right. We need hope to keep the boat sailing in storm till its past. We need it to keep us going till life comes full circle, because it will. We need hope, because we have no option. Don’t give it up. Its more precious than you might know. And giving it up, will make things as worst as you envisioned, for all you know.
COPYRIGHT 2007 SHRUTI BHUTADA

5 comments:

distant_dreams said...

Dude... hmmm... im sure there were numerous number of times that you hoped for something to happen and it did. But you would have discounted all of that just and chose to remember the times that it did go wrong... Without hope theres no point in living. If you have hope and determination, you can achieve anything... But without dreams or hopes or wishes, what exactly is there to life for anyway?

By the way, did something happen to you recently thats made you lose hope on hope?

Shruti said...

dude... this is an article that reasons on why we need hope. i agree with you about hope, the thing is, we do bail out on life and hope, and a lot of times, thats the reason why we become so frustrated, and actually do something wrong. we become victimizers because we think we had it enough as a victim.

well, something happened, and it irritated me, and then i realized that if only we keep the faith, we might find a way. its not as tooty fruity as its projected, but i am sure that life is fair.

distant_dreams said...

ah... i see... cool... guess i took it took literally... peace out... +D

Unknown said...

Hope has truly been lost in translation. Hope is now only associated with desperately waiting in doubt. Such as I "Hope i win the Lottery" or I Hope it wont rain today. It seems to be that we are setting ourselves up for disappointment. True Hope is patiently waiting in confidence. Tho only problem is no one knows what there waiting for, and with the people in this world being so faithless, how can we have confidence in them or anything else. The unfaithfulness of men, is not the fault of our faithful God. WHen our Hope is Found In Jesus Christ, the one who has already stood faithful till death, and allowing us to face a Perfect God without being cast away, we can truly find joy and peace in our hope of being accepted in his forgiving arms when our bodies are no more. One without Hope, sees this world as the best it will get, then stuffs their lives with fleeting possessions, emotions, and relationships. One with Hope in God knows that this world is the worst it will ever be and suddenly finds joy in the opportunity to experience these trials that build strength and dependancy on an Amazing Savior to deliver us from ourselves and the corruption of the rest of the world.

Unknown said...

If life is truly fair then everyone would have equal lives. i like how you mention why hope is needed but what your missing is this, Who do we hope in? what do we hope for? we can have hope but we can have hope in the wrong person and in the wrong things. There is one that will never put us down and to have TRUE HOPE is to hope in JESUS CHRIST! just in case if you were hoping for a promotion and you died today, you will see Jesus who is the hope of the WORLD! Glory to GOD!