HOPE: THE WELLSPRING

FOR POSITIVE ACTION

By Lucie Lewis, Co-Facilitator Central Team

As I think back on the inauguration last month, I also find myself thinking about the centuries-long struggle that our ancestors endured that led up to that extraordinary moment and, even more so, about the struggles that still lay ahead for each of us. Only one word captures the empowering focus that unites the stony road “over a way that with tears have been watered”ⁱ by so many during those difficult years with our recent journey culminating in this historic inauguration to the uncertain road that stretches before us – hope.

Hope is now too often just a badly overused word spoken to offer veiled comfort when there seems to be no other words to say. I often find myself saying things like ‘hope springs eternal’ when I am faced with a task or situation that seems overwhelming or insurmountable. The word is no longer grounded in a belief system or flamed by the yearning for long, sought-after results. The sound of that word — hope — just seems to make the road ahead appear less trying and the task more approachable. But, hope was far more than a word for those whose shoulders we stand upon; it was the wellspring that fed their souls. It gave them the strength and courage to endure each tomorrow while fighting for a better life and standing for what was right.

The time has come to fill our inner reservoirs with the HOPE they knew; a HOPE that will empower us to push ourselves past the obstacles and barriers that otherwise could prove too imposing to overcome. Their hope was so vivid it ignited their imaginations with the visual truth of their hearts’ desire. It gave them the mettle and, more importantly, the will to take the steps, whatever they were, to keep that hope alive. Does that kind of hope have a place in our harried, frantic, frequently disillusioned, desperate times of today or has it been relegated to only be the word we utter to temporarily lift our spirits separate from any underlying expectation of positive outcome? If it does have a place, where do we find it? How do we sustain it? How did they?

I remember a song from a very tumultuous time when dreaming should have seemed like a meaningless, empty action and each tomorrow could have been viewed as just another day to make it through. It was a time where what could have been was not and because it was not there was change. It was called “Eye on the Prize.”ⁱⁱ Last month I wrote about living with an eye toward tomorrow. Tomorrow is our prize. It is not just another day; it is a new opportunity and a new beginning. Believing in tomorrow and the victories that await us is a source of genuine HOPE and a wellspring to feed our choices, decisions, and our actions. It is the HOPE that can color our understanding and our interactions. A great baton has been handed to us. Let us run with the HOPE of those who have passed it on.

The mission of Step Up Springfield is to help you become the best you can be and to be ready for life. Remember, we can stand behind you, but you must stand up for yourself first. For more information on learning to believe in yourself, contact Step Up Springfield at (413) 693-0228.

ⁱ James Weldon Johnson, 1899, The Negro National Anthem. Retrieved on December 30, 2008 from http://www.africanamericans.com/NegroNationalAnthem.htm..

ⁱⁱ:Eyes on the Prize, America’s Civil Rights Movement 1954 – 1985, An American Experience Presentation,. Exec. Prod. Henry Hampton, Narrated by Julian Bond. Blackside, 1987. Retrieved on December 21, 2008 from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eyesontheprize/story/14_power.html#music.