I hope, I hope

Things have been feeling low lately. The news becomes more and more disturbing each day. The country is at war, internally and externally, it feels. I have been feeling hopelessness creep in.

Where do we go from here?

What do we do?

Is the Great Experiment over?

It can feel like spinning in circles, trying to find a place to fit, a difference to make.

How? How? How? I wonder every day.

I despair, each and every single day.

Are you full of fear, too?

Yesterday, I went outside. I stood in the sun. I said, “I am outside now and no one will ever be able to make me go back in.” The sun energizing me, I looked around and saw the things that I could place hope in.

Community, nature, warmth.

Knowing that I am sending little humans out into the world softer, kinder, more thoughtful than they were when I met them. Each little person a drop in the wide, wide pond. Knowing that making each one a little more compassionate will be a ripple that will carry on and on and on.

This is where I hold on to hope.

The sun on my face, the next generation’s laughter in my ears. What world will they emerge into? I’m not sure, I’m not sure. I know though, that no matter how it stands, they will make it softer. Their kindness will carry on and on and on.

When things seem overwhelmingly bleak, it can feel hopeless. Like, unless we are tackling a massive piece of the pie, we are not doing enough. Not acting fast enough. That we have no part in saving the world and if it burns, surely it will be MY fault. How big it all feels, seeing those standing up being carried out, silenced, battered, wondering if we are that brave. If they can’t make a difference, what could I do?

I’ll tell you what you can do.

Leave people better than you found them.

Love and kindness grow, love and kindness overpower the invasive nature of hate, greed, malice. We are made as one whole people. Creating spaces where people can be safe to grow, fail, trust, love - all of that matters.

Everyone knows the saying, “Pay it forward.” I highly subscribe to the idea of paying it forward, but there is one part I am unsure about. The saying itself implies that there has to be a kindness given to pass on in the first place.

That doesn’t sit right in my soul.

Does that mean that there are people waiting around, withholding kindness simply because it wasn’t first given?

I hope not.

There is that word again: hope.

I hope, I hope.

I look to the sky, I stand in the sun, I do my part.

I am a factory for kindness.

I take on the cost so that others are inspired to pay it forward.

I hope, I hope, that they do.

And if they don’t, then that is okay for now. Because my heart will continue to turn out kindness and brew hope. I will carry on as if every act of kindness or compassion that I do will create at least one other action that brings light to the world.

I am just one person, but I can care for many, many hearts in a single day. Yours included. So, look to the sky, stand in the sun, find a heart to hold.

Every act has an impact.

You don’t have to save the whole world, but maybe the person you hold the door for is on their way to do just that.