“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
Earlier this year in July we at ISD Global had conceptualised and curated a Trust Conclave in collaboration with IIM Bangalore and at that meet, one of the participants came up to me( a real water cooler moment) and said that ‘ Trust is higher than Love “, and that has stayed with me ever since. So when you read quotes like ” “Hope is the only thing stronger than fear.”– President Snow; or “Hope lives in those who believe in it.” – Buddha, you reconcile to them easily.
The English vocabulary has some beautiful four letter words including ‘ love ‘, ‘ kind ‘ , ‘ feel ‘, ‘ life ‘, ‘ meet ‘ , ‘ hand ‘, ‘ nest ‘ and many ‘ more ‘, and that said, for most of humanity, ‘ hope ‘ will be right on top of the pile.
Hope brings with it the energy of reassurance, the promise of tomorrow on the premise of today, the willpower and the tenacity, the resilience to get even against all odds, the question before the answer, the reinforcement of faith, the counter to fait accompli, the move from bitter to better, the silver lining on the horizon, the springboard for moonshots…and all of these for a small four letter word, it is saying a lot.
While hope is great as an individual strength, it is equally vital to reflect on its collective responsibility.
Here’s hoping it is au revoir and not goodbye.