Where There Is Hope - There Is Life

I do truly believe that hope is the key, the gift which pulls us thought the darkness if we let it. Hope is a wondrous force and one with infinite power. All I need to do is continue to know it is there, cherish it, nurture it, and let is save me.
Heavy philosophy for early on a Saturday morning? Yes, I rather guess it is. Is there a reason I mention it just now, some horrific twist of fate or ill-omen come-upon me? Nope. I simply fancy I needed to remind myself - and you - to keep hope alive.
It's actually quite hard to speak of hope without employing, or at least struggling to avoid the use of, a myriad of cliches. Hope is the answer, says the song. Faith, hope, and charity, says the church. It also is pulled-into vacant thoughtless automatic remarks, as in 'hope you feel better soon.' When we all say that, is it because we stopped and thought deeply over their condition and as a result of that reflection we actively and expectantly 'hoped' for their recovery? Probably not.
So what does hope mean to me? It means a lot, really it does. It is very easy, justifiably easy, to fall into a hum-drum pattern of work, stress, worry, and preoccupation with the mundane. Hope is the blessing which offers me a leg-up to see beyond those perversities. I practice to keep hope alive in my heart and I do feel its consolation. You should try it too - often! Where do I apply it? Well, both to myself, to my loved-ones, and to this world. Most specifically, I apply it to my patients. I hope for them to improve. I also hope for them to feel the miracle of having hope. The hope I wish upon them is to know there is both improvement possible, if not recovery, and that someone cares.
The risk in all this hope-iness is that I do so out of vanity, some smug, self-righteous sense of "I'm better than the next guy." I hope that is not the case. It would not speak well for me, now would it?
Every day in clinic I tangle with a patient who should be, and may in fact be, bereft of hope. If I can allow them to hope for a better status, well then, dude, I done good. There is always some call for hope, actually often quite a lot.
You know what floors me, *headdesks* me the most? When I offer real, tangible, palpable hope to a down-trodden soul and they reject it - often angrily. It's a real step-back moment. If you were locked in pain, confined to near immobility, and condemned to poverty as a result of that suffering, and someone offered you realist hope, how could you refuse it? I know intellectually why they do, but it such a dark-evil spirit which impels them - and I cry a little and, yes, I die a little each to I see it. I see it a lot.
Grim?
Not really. You know why? Sure you do! Because most of the time the person accepts the gift of hope and many time they experience transformative improvement. I don't mean cure, I mean an improvement in how bad they feel, how alone they feel, and they allow themselves to once again hope.
You know what floors me even more than hope-rejectors? Individuals who are in the sacred position of being able to offer hope and do not. In my microcosmic world, that would be medical providers who stare at a person desperate for a life-line, a life-saver, and not only do they not extend the offer, they don't see that they have it in their power to do so.
Wow, talk about a costly fumble - for both parties.
Glad that's not me and I hope it never is.
Now, get out there and hope, God love ya! Don't make me come over there and slap you upside the head.

PS: I promise the next one will be less heavy, okay?