Heretofore all too seldom, several authors have been read in recent weeks expressing sentiments of hope against and despite all that so many more authors have so richly and explicitly detailed as going wrong with our world.
I find such hope refreshing, for while anger at injustice is certainly justified, and when properly focused can spur one to action, anger without hope ineffectually leads only to more anger. And anger is never added to anger. It only multiplies.
I also find hope fascinating, most of all when it persists in the face of so much that would destroy it. And from every direction we face it certainly seems these days an awful lot of hope-busting missiles are zeroing in.
Hope, most of all, is the refusal of being indifferent. As author and founder of the Small Planet Institute Frances Moore Lappé once wrote so well, "Hope is not for wimps; it is for the strong-hearted who can recognize how bad things are and yet not be deterred, not be paralyzed."
Hope is active and not passive. It requires living one step ahead of reality, imagining things as different from as they are now, believing in spite of the odds. Hard work, to hope.
Hope is conceived from the union of imagination and indignation. It is the child of expectation and desire. And it gives life to the idea that every present is incomplete, and gives the lie to the belief that the way things are is the best and most natural outcome of all that has gone on before.
Dominant beliefs, held most strongly by those whose turn in power and those they lead, are typically at pains to suggest they are no more alterable by human hands than are the orbits of the earth. Hope is thus dismissed as naïveté, equated with ignorance of the "facts" and with denial of "reality". It is ridiculed as the drug of the powerless, and laughed off as the high of the truly hopeless.
But the past informs us that the dominant beliefs of one age themselves are often ridiculed in the next. History often proceeds by a process of reversal: momentum going in one direction is replaced by momentum in the opposite, each shift in momentum brought about by collective imagination and indignation. And while history provides us many lessons, one endures: successful change comes from hope, not from indifference.
Yet too many in this country today remain utterly indifferent to politics. Tyrannized by their overscheduled lives, distracted by money and possessions, celebrity and sport, or preoccupied with simply keeping their heads and those of their children above water, too many Americans live believing the state of the world does not concern them.
Others, more and more still, have likely been overwhelmed into their indifference by the very state of the world. Quite forgivable, given the events of the past six years. It is quite natural, after all, to vacillate between the determination to act, and the desire to retreat into the comforts of fun, family and friends.
But indifference is a nonetheless a conscious act, whether a temporary neglect or a permanent abandonment of hope. It requires one hanging up their ideals, putting away their enthusiasms, quieting their questioning spirit, and closing the lid on their indignations. It says of the present world, "It's not for me to understand." It says, "I cannot change the way things are," even as one's private concerns, one's happiness, and one's life course will every day be affected by the way things are.
As Americans we live in a democracy, and indifference is fatal to its survival. The powerful, they haven't stopped hoping: in fact, what they're hoping most for is our indifference.
When we don't participate, when might we do it? And if we don't do it at all, what are we saying? What have we decided?
To stay right where we are.
While sometimes naïve, others uninformed, hope is at least a noble journey, though that is not to say the right path is always taken. Who knows if there is even a "right" path? That is the beauty of democracy: when citizens actively participate, the question of who and what is "right" gets sorted out over time.
We have only to hope.
www.strangeanimals.us
Todd Huffman is a pediatrician and writer living in Eugene, Oregon. He is a regular contributor to many newspapers and publications throughout the Pacific Northwest.
no, not religious, as such (although Tolkein was a Christian), but one takes their scriptures and prophets as one may choose. For me, The Lord of the Rings are such books.
After Gandalf falls into the crevice in Moria, and the party escapes, one of them asks "what hope have we without him?" Aragorn (if I remember) says "Then we go on without hope".
In another passage someone speaks of despair, and Gandalf says "despair is only for those who know all ends, and even the wise do not know that."
Personally, I don't worry about hope; what concerns me much more is "right action". I don't know all ends -- I don't any ends, really, but I know what I should be doing now, and that is resisting: resisting ignorance, fascism, and , of course, despair. Would it be otherwise if I knew that eventually it would all work out? If I knew such a thing, should I just sit on my ass and let others do it? Not be a part of the struggle? If I am invited for dinner, I know that the dishes will get tidied up from the table whether I help or not -- but of course I will help. Well -- I can't say I had an appetite for THIS dinner, but nonetheless, we share around and help clean up the mess. It's the civilized thing to do.
Tolkien again -- The Hobbit: the dwarves came and ate up Bilbo's food while plotting to defeat the dragon and regain their gold, with Bilbo getting a share as the 'burgler', but they also helped clean up after supper.
Tolkien was a wise man.
by
Blue Pilgrim (0 articles, 3 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 997 comments)
on Tuesday, June 26, 2007 at 12:53:29 AM
I, too, have always been inspired by Tolkein. Thanks for reminding me of his words.
Resistance without hope is futile. If one resists for no other reason than for its own sake, one is no more than a flagless mercenary. One must have hope in order to resist most fervently, and effectively.
by
Todd Huffman, M.D. (80 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 109 comments)
on Tuesday, June 26, 2007 at 8:53:50 AM
Our best hope, I think, will be our ability to honor our own intellectual integrity and believe in the power of simply telling the truth as we discover it.
by
Mark A. Goldman (81 articles, 2 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 243 comments)
on Tuesday, June 26, 2007 at 6:29:07 AM
I am disgusted with all this BS about hope; unless hope is translated into active and committed support for change, it is delusional. One must apply hope in the real world; hope must not remain theoretical or abstract; it must be applied to a specific solution that one has confidence in. Many hundreds of people have now applied their hope to getting the nation's first Article V convention; go to www.foavc.org and see how you can shape hope into a political strategy for restoring American democracy. Or just stay complacent writing and reading all these psycho-babble pieces on this and many other websites. Become an activist, a revolutionary, a real dissident.
by
Joel S. Hirschhorn (133 articles, 37 quicklinks, 60 diaries, 533 comments)
on Tuesday, June 26, 2007 at 8:31:49 AM
everything is a nail. I've been very supportive of your idea about the convention, but it is not the be-all end-all solution. Your posting is disrespectful and a bit arrogant. We need a lot of people who carry and exude hope in a whole lot of ventures. One person, one group, one solution will not cut it.
by
Rob Kall (869 articles, 4014 quicklinks, 345 diaries, 1846 comments)
on Tuesday, June 26, 2007 at 9:27:01 PM
Did you even read the piece? To write such a post, I suppose you did not.
Of course hope without action accomplishes nothing. The whole point of the piece is that participation is required to put hope into action, to make a difference, to create change. Hope's greatest struggle isn't against inaction, it's against indifference. And indifference is epidemic in our society today.
Read more carefully before spewing your anger, which only weakens your message.
by
Todd Huffman, M.D. (80 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 109 comments)
on Tuesday, June 26, 2007 at 8:48:14 AM
Student work, papers, research articles, business plans from people soliciting investments, political statements, journalism, religious works, poetry and fiction.
I am able to act on a fair amount of what I read and to comment on quite a bit more, and in some cases my responses have an effect.
But, occasionally, I read something that really blows me away. "Hoping Against Indifference" has provided one of those occasions.
My thanks to Dr. Huffman.
by
Robert Chapman (28 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 556 comments)
on Tuesday, June 26, 2007 at 12:04:04 PM
Thank you for your kind comment, and for those you've posted to other pieces I've written for this site. Notice that for this article I used a larger font! Thanks for the suggestion.
by
Todd Huffman, M.D. (80 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 109 comments)
on Tuesday, June 26, 2007 at 12:12:14 PM
I believe Dr. Huffman's article raised an important issue for those of us who oppose the fascistic historical trend currently embodied by this administration and its supporters. The follow up comments alluding to Tolkien were also quite on point. Just as in Tolkien we are dealing with an epic struggle that continues throughout history. While we could label this a battle between good vs. evil, the issue is far more nuanced. On one side are those who lust for power over other humans, abetted by people who are comforted by being subservient to the power-hungry. The other side is represented those who believe in the inter-relation of humanity and therefore our responsibility to provide for the common good. This is an age old struggle for humanity and will be ongoing far into the future.
Adopting this long-term view we see that there will be battles won and battles lost in our individual lifetimes and well past the lives of those who remember us. In this context it is vital that we maintain hope within ourselves and work to spread it among those we would have as allies. No one struggle will be decisive and thus should cause us to lapse into despair, rather than feel temporary disappointment.
I believe this, not because I view the world through rosy lenses, but because given my commitment to the struggle, it represents the only way to avoid the paralysis of despair, or the psychosis of continuing rage. This is not to say that I don't feel anger at each outrage of the Bush Clan, but I try to channel that anger constructively and maintain the belief (hope?) that in the end humankind will evolve.
by
MikeSpindell (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 14 comments)
on Tuesday, June 26, 2007 at 1:12:33 PM
A beautiful statement, one that I'm writing down to save.
Our hopes must be varied, ardent, imaginative, yet thorough and never satisfied. We must also never be satisfied with mere protest or complaint about the things we believe are wrong. Rather, we must do the harder, more creative, and ultimately more prophetic work of finding and offering alternatives, of building change.
This not, as a previous poster accused, "psychobabble". Hope drives action, and saves us from despair and indifference. And no action is ever too small. Each of us must do what we can, where we are, now to restructure the status quo. Being aghast is simply not enough.
And we must also remember that although our efforts may at times seem lost, seem to evaporate into ether - there they remain to be breathed in by others. No effort is truly wasted. The fact that we could have done more never invalidates the fact that we have done something.
by
Todd Huffman, M.D. (80 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 109 comments)
on Tuesday, June 26, 2007 at 5:02:01 PM
Are you aware Todd Huffman, M.D. how few, even of those you might think read the piece, do not? The majority only read a few of the posts, or they ignore the entirety of the article, instead they scan and pick out one line or phrase to complain about or with which to take issue. It is a particularly strange phenomenon of which mixes a reading disorder, with a need for immediate gratification, inability to comprehend the magnitude of what they are reading, and confabulated and confounded by a need to be hostile. Alternatively, maybe it is understandable frustration, and lashing out at the nearest irritant.
The reality is that anyone can pull a trigger and most of my generation had our fill of learning to kill, and if you qualified for OCS, or Ranger training, how to kill and destroy in dozens of different, easy ways and means, without a trace. Everyone there learns them, a few, those with a conscience cast out the thought of them, just as the Cheney's and the Hitler's of the world think they are superior because they get ideas and implement those ideas which they think are unique products of only their minds, which no one else gets. What they fail to comprehend is that many of us get the same ideas, we simply reject them as despicable, Cheney thinks instead he is a genius, we think he is conscience disabled and demoniac. As Plato said, (and my Archaic Greek is a bit rusty to quote exactly from the source, but put into modern language is, something like), "knowledge is a stream of consciousness that flows through the universe..." and those with the wiring can tune into it.
Anyone can pull a trigger; few can play Kriegspiel against several chess players and strategically and tactically outwit them all.
Political actions need to be assembled by those who write and inspire and they need to be strategically analyzed by ingenious Systems Analysis-Synectics.
Prayer is hope verbalized, and if there is a God, verbalization is the Tachyonic, above light-speed, means of conjoining many minds into action.
Or we could chuck the whole thing and move back to the Old Countries, or act like Wily Coyote, or even Bart Simpson.
Feel like I'm at a damn tea party, "beautiful", "marvelous", "inspirational" ... and you're right.
But let me ask you something Doc, we're all adults here, what do you do when you come to realize that we've screwed the pooch? That all the noble words every spoken or written, that all the blood soaked grounds of those so brave as to have given their lives for others to survive fell in vain. What then, Doc?
As literature has been telling us since man first scratched on slate is that the eternal battle between our intellect and our beast that has been going on forever, and, I know I'm going to get hammered for saying this, but the beast won. Dylan's "Masters of War" have won.
America is like Wily Coyote with that "oh crap" look on his face as he discovers he's run off the cliff and he's hanging in thin air about to fall into a very deep canyon. The only "hope " I see is that like old Wily some of us survive the fall.
But this isn't Loony Tunes and if you can tell me how we can survive the collapse of the Eco-system, the destruction of the environment, shrinking basic resources, population explosion, loss of habitable land, wars without end, rapid climate change, the beginning of the Sixth Extinction, and having the worst people, in the worst place, at the worst time, I'd really like to know?
Who's going to lead us? Who? Kucinich? Rudy? Obama? Gore? Which one has the power to reverse the irreversible? Do you see a Gandhi among them? Do you think we the people are going to do it? HA! The "people" are what got us into this! For all of man's genius his collective stupidity was no match.
Angry? You bet your sweet ass. You see I had hope more than once. It was before the child-king throw us off the cliff. It was before the Democrats throw us under the bus refunding this most immoral, illegal genocide we're perpetrating not just in Iraq, but around the world. But it keeps getting crushed every time I count the number of fucking SUV's that pass me as I peddle my bike to work. It gets crushed when you realize that for the very few that have had the privilege to be aware of what's going on behind the curtain, there are millions of clueless drones.
I'm not indifferent, I'm angry we've screwed the pooch. What do you suggest for me Doc? What should I do? Keep my mouth shut around children?
by
Mr M (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 20 diaries, 1781 comments)
on Wednesday, June 27, 2007 at 1:58:13 AM
hope can be lost. But really, hope or despair are just emotions -- you can gain hope -- you can take a happy pill and feel all warm and optimistic and see rainbows everywhere. Or you can have a bad trip and get depressed. Or just eat or not eat, sleep or not sleep -- whatever.
If you have to depend on hope to do the work then at some point you're going to just quit. I no more worry about having hope when I set to get something done than I worry if a storm is coming in and my knees hurt or have the miseries start up: I do what needs doing anyway. And it gets done. With the constant pain I'm in, that's the only way I can survive. One get's used to it. If I let depression or despair rule me I'd be dead long ago; if I let hope rule me I'd have done some absurdly idiotic things. That's what happens when you allow yourself to ruled by emotions instead of will.
I'm sick of this political garbage, death, lying, lunacy -- I've been working on this for years, all day everyday. And now I'm weary -- burned out. So I'm doing something else and not always putting the 12 to 18 hours a day I was. I'm learning to dance jumpstyle. (look at google videos -- the best one's are on the Dutch version.)
It's absurd: I have arthritus, an incurable crippling disease, and I'm 60 years old. There's no reason to hope I can ever do jumpstyle -- many times I can barely walk, or lift a pot of coffee to pour a cup. Doesn't matter -- I'm working on it. I'm in better shape than I was, and I can sort of almost dance for as long as -- oh -- ten, fifteen seconds -- sometimes, on a good day. It doesn't matter if I ever do better -- all that matters is that I've decided to work at it. Hope doesn't enter into it.
To me, hope is another form of 'faith' or 'belief' -- and I don't need those either. I know how to talk myself into or out of things; I know how to shift my emotions and feel what I want to feel: that's something I learned a long time ago. I know how to believe, or disbelieve, and because I know how, I don't need booze, or a pill, or good news -- just my will, and making the effort to try -- to intend. It's not hope, but intentionallity which matters.
by
Blue Pilgrim (0 articles, 3 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 997 comments)
on Wednesday, June 27, 2007 at 4:53:21 AM
try yoga. it may not make you as happy initially as jumpstyle... but...
the benefits are enormous, especially for those of just who are past our physical prime! strength, agility, balance., clarity of thought.. and much less stressful on the joints, please try it! i'm sure you can find video clips online.. and or possibly books/videos at your local library. go very slowly, there will be an initial period of soreness, but that passes :)
p.s. i too love tolkien, so do my kids. for one of my 12yr old twin girls tolkien's books have become her touchstone, and i can't think of a greater source for perspective on the moral battles mortals face, even now :) great truths can be found many places, even in children's lit. the harry potter books contain characters (dumbledore) that espouse great truths, reminiscent of tolkien's. it pleases me, that even veiled in parable and myth the ancient lessons are still taught :)
by
k kelly (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 182 comments)
on Wednesday, June 27, 2007 at 9:14:53 AM
I think that you're dealing with semantics somewhat, but that is no matter. Whatever strategies we individuals dream up that keeps us living our lives productively and avoiding despair (without of course harming others) are viable. You don't choose to do hope, I imagine, in the sense of needing expectations of the future.
I use hope as my strategy because in the course of my long working career I was exposed to much of the worst and most discouraging problems of the human condition. Since I have children and a grandchild I do cling to hope, since I fear for their futures. Also too, I've had three major heart attacks and I currently suffer from congestive heart failure which has somewhat disabled me. God knows what my life expectancy is and I'm not ready to check out yet. Hope works for me, but I've no doubt your willpower works just as well for you.
by
MikeSpindell (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 14 comments)
on Wednesday, June 27, 2007 at 10:53:45 AM
kikzz... I've done some yoga-type things -- i was doing some stretching exercises some years back and was accused of doing yoga by someone who studying it. And of course I need to stretch and strengthen as part of preparation to do 'jumpen'. Actually, the dancing reminds me of some Eastern martial arts -- maybe has common roots. I can work at both -- it may well turn out to be the same things at root.
Tolkien LOTR (maybe you know this) is not really childrens literature, but largely a conglomeration of the old myths and stories of north-east Europe, which Tolkien studied -- which is also great for kids. I haven't see the movies -- I wonder -- doubt -- they catch the essence of LOTR, which is really greatly about personal growth and will -- the emergence of the 'hero' in a mythic sense, with powerful archetypes. The 'ring' is not a ring, really, but more like 'the dark side of the force' which the 'wise' reject, and ultimately destroy those who are too ambitious and arrogant, and try to gain power through it. These sorts of thing are very hard to portray on the screen -- I have seen clips of the movie and it seems to be mostly about battles (which take up a very small part of the book(s).
Gandalf's ring, Narya, the ring of the 'secret fire' -- the flame of Anor -- was to kindle spirit and resistance in those who struggle against tyranny (the other two great elven rings, for healing and preservation, were not about power either). Also, Gandalf had learned from one of the other demigods about compassion.
A passage about Gandalf at the seige of Minas Tirith says he went about the city and those near him took heart, but fell again into despair when he moved on to other parts of the city. Any of the rings could only be used in proportion to the will of the wearer -- and were dangerous for any mortal, who was likely to be overwhelmed by it's energy. Profound lessons, and how parallel to the very little people who run the government and are overwhelmed by the 'rings of power'.
Yes, ancient lessons, as you say, wrapped in myth and story. But in Tolkein, one can also see some tenets of Christian myth running through his work, absent from the original old European material -- things such as 'hidden purpose, and characters being 'meant' to do what they do as part of the grand musical themes of Iluvitar or Eru, as written in the Silmarillion. (It's too bad Joseph Campbell did not also write such a story: it would have been a doozy!)
-------------------------
miconoclast: Semantics is important; and yes, I do not incorporate expectation as the major component of action. I have goals, of course, and make judgements about the likelihood of attaining a goal, and have preferences as to what will happen, but I can work towards a goal withou expecting it to ever happen: I see the path and process as more important than the destination -- a sort of reversal of 'ends justify the means. When you say "cling to hope" that is where I depart since I see that as what the Buddhists mean when they talk of 'attachment', and is presumed to be a destructive thing. The idea of 'mindfulness' enters here also; the idea of being in the present, which is the only 'point of power': I set a path for what I prefer for the future, but I can't act in the future.
Still, everyone needs to find their own system and methods. I guess my major point is that is holding hope is a personal decision, and not something which everyone must embrace.
by
Blue Pilgrim (0 articles, 3 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 997 comments)
on Wednesday, June 27, 2007 at 2:08:15 PM
yea, i do understand.. LOTR trilogy & Hobbit are not easy reading.. but she has struggled through them, and continues to do so w/gusto. the movies are wonderful, but take some liberties. can't think of many direct instances as i've not done a reread in about a decade, and my first exposure was in high school. the movies have helped my 12 yr old, to have enough interest to read the tomes, and even makes comparisons w/modern day situations, equating most government officials to urukai (sp). however there is more female involvement, through the elf kings' daughter Arwen? who saves Frodo from the ringwraiths early on in fellowship, calling river spirits to her aid to impede the wraith's crossing after they are safe. lovestory developed on Arwen & Strider, she giving up her elven immortality to become his wife later. Later in 2? a king who'd been bewitched to waking oblivion, helped to his release by Gandalf the White? his daughter, sneaks along w/a hobbit to the battle and kills a giant beastie that no "man"...born of woman can kill. so much for "girl power" :) but some of the sentiments, the ancient lessons have made me cry... :)
there are huge battles but also much personal interaction and character development, ... you care what happens to them. 1 & 2 are magnificent, 3 is good. the scenery of the N. Zealand outback is awe inspiring.....of course no movie can go where one's mind can take them. if you can get past the liberties taken, i think you may not be totally disappointed, some of tolkien's magic of the books is present in the movies. :)
by
k kelly (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 182 comments)
on Wednesday, June 27, 2007 at 3:29:21 PM
Liberties -- I guess... I've read the books at least a dozen times over the years (it's almost a ritual), and about half of what you report of the movie sounds familiar. :-D
One difficulty with reading the books is the vocabulary -- some is invented, some is almost exclusively British, and some is obscure with words rarely used (but it's not as bad as reading the Donaldson's Thomas Covenant books: there are words I never have found in any dictionary yet, and I've never had a call to use 'catafalque'). The beastie, BTW, was just the steed -- the one not to be killed by any man was the Witch King of Angmar -- the top ringwraith, who in the book is killed by both woman and hobbit. Tolkien's handling of 'prophesy' is interesting, but it seems to be mainly a plot device or embellishment, even while advancing the basic world paradigm of "meant to". This makes for an interesting dichotomy between destiny and free will -- which is also an enigma in Christian theology.
Beyond that, the books are very rich, and can handle a number readings. I suspect there is much there which even Tolkien was not fully conscious of -- common enough with any writing, much less such a seminal work -- or any work of art.
by
Blue Pilgrim (0 articles, 3 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 997 comments)
on Wednesday, June 27, 2007 at 4:06:41 PM
21 comments
How would you rate this?
You must be logged in (if signed up) to do ratings.
It's free to signup! And easy. And takes just a minute or two....
Must Read (
Well Said (
News (
Touching (
Funny (
Supported (
Interesting (
Inspiring (
Valuable (