A hope

I really don’t feel that we’ve got a hope. I use the noun specifically because this entity is, I think, severely lacking right now. We must still cling on fervently to the verb: we must hope, but when I open my eyes and turn on my ears, a hope can be hard to find.

‘Be kind’ we tell our children, whilst silently praying that they will find the right group of friends to see them comfortably through their school years, without loneliness or dread. ‘Be kind’ we tell them, whilst silently praying that they are not a bully. Then I scroll through my Facebook feed, feeds on forums that are only for mums. They are exclusive in this way, partly because we are all of the same ilk; we are going through the same shit on a daily basis and if not the same then very, very similar. This means that we are easily able to empathise and to offer advice…or so you’d think. Yet frequently I read these feeds and I don’t feel we’ve got a hope. Mums judging other mums. So brutally and so publicly you could be mistaken for thinking that they are modern day gladiators: fighting in a very public arena and vying for the moral high ground. We would be disgusted if this were our children, yet this is how people are and this is how our children learn. We haven’t got a hope.

When Donald Trump was elected President of the USA, like many (many, many) I felt that we didn’t have a hope. As a female, all the talk of the way he treats women added to this feeling. Then there’s his first week in office. It’s too depressing to write it out again here, but you know it anyway, because like me you have no doubt read and watched in disbelief. His narcissism must render him deaf, dumb and blind and his advisors, stupid. We haven’t got a hope, I thought over and over again and then I saw the photo of the six men bearing witness to the signature being drawn on an executive order that will affect millions of women’s access to abortion, and another hope was gone.

We haven’t got a hope when our Prime Minister won’t publicly take a stand against him. We haven’t got a hope when all Muslims are treated with suspicion, when walls are being put up, rather than torn down. We haven’t got a hope.

Yet despite all this, now is one of those times in history when we absolutely must not give up hope. Because to do this would surely be giving in – playing right in to the hands of those who call the shots.

Where we haven’t got a hope, we must find one and then we must fight for it and protest and remain open minded and fair. We must do this for our children, or we haven’t got a hope.

 

16 thoughts on “A hope”

  4. It’s unbelievable what is happening at the moment. We’ve come such a long way to feel like all that work was for nothing. We can’t give up hope or as you say they will win! #DreamTeam

    Reply

  5. I went to a talk last week given by a friend with terminal cancer. For him the most important thing was hope. He said this in the light of consultants giving him about 3 mths to live and how dreadful that felt. 13 mths later he’s still with us as are two fellow sufferers who spoke on the same platform. Never give up. As for that horrible man I think it brings a new awareness for us that we must always be vigilant and courageous. Jo x #anythinggoes

    Reply

    1. It is amazing what a positive mental attitude can do to us physically. I wish your friend many more months of living life to the full x

      Reply

    1. Oh yes, it absolutely does! Mind you, Having seen Ben Fogle in Alaska, I rather like the idea of living there myself!

      Reply

  8. I think when things feel the most hopeless is when we need that spark of hope the most. We just need to reach inside ourselves and find it because it’s always there if we just look hard enough
    Thanks for linking up to #AnythingGoes 🙂
    Debbie

    Reply

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.