I just realized how remiss I’ve been with regard to my goal of posting once every two days or so. I crawl, I wallow, I grovel, I abase myself and beg your forgiveness. I demonstrate obeisance and deference, if not downright homage in your honorable presence, most gracious one. (all synonyms available at merriamwebster.com)

I was driving away from the clinic the other day and saw a nice young gentleman walking down the sidewalk. He was alone. He carried in his hands a mortarboard, robe, and a hood in the university colors. He was smiling–beaming–like the world was applauding him. I smiled and imagined what it must be like to graduate from, of all things, medical school. Even these brief glimpses of assurance which foreshadow future realities are enough to help me finish the week. Perhaps even finish my program.

Hope. Some say it springs eternal. Cicero said that ‘while there’s life, there’s hope.’ Benjamin Franklin said that ‘he who lives upon hope will die fasting.’ Aristotle said ‘hope is the dream of a waking man.’ The list goes on. People (at least those found on brainyquote.com) seem to disagree about this concept. Is hope a falsehood, a lie we tell ourselves? Or is it a necessity, a natural companion of the human heart given by God himself–something so basic as to be synonymous with this human life? I think the way we answer these questions, and the way we think of hope–as a vain trick of the mind, or as a real comfort for the heart–depends on what sort of God we trust. I choose to trust that God is big–bigger than all my hopelessness–and able to give me hope in this life, and in the life to come, for “those who hope for no other life are dead even for this” (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe).

Thanks for letting me wax quoetical.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 12th, 2006 at 11:14 pm and is filed under From the nation of Indig. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.