I keep hearing the cry “what is hope?” and “where is hope?” as images of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria; bombed-out buildings in Ukraine; the explosion of a giant overhead spy balloon; brutality, violence, cruelty and more, flood social media. These are terrible times. And then I am reminded of a quote by Augustine who, in the fifth century, wrote these words: “Hope has two daughters. Their names are Anger and Courage … ‘anger’ at the way things are and ‘courage’ to see that they do not remain the way they are.”
Augustine died in 430, a time when many Romans fled for their lives to North Africa because of violence and corruption in high offices. It was a time when hope seemed to be elusive – and invisible. Terrible times.
These days, many are experiencing the elusive hope, invisible hope of terrible times too, because in addition to the tragedies of wars, earthquakes etc., there are
… diagnoses of a devastating illness.
… arrival of eviction notices
… politics, suspicion, conspiracy theories confound
… hungry and homeless people
… cities, communities, islands, townships invaded by violence
… disruptions in weather, land, peoples’ lives
Yes, terrible times for many. Augustine knew that the only way through terrible times was for hope to emerge. His words guided the people at the time. Could they guide people at this time?
Could we be called to be Daughters (Sons/Children) of Hope in spite of it all? What if we allowed the anger at the “way things are” to surface by expressing the sense of helplessness we feel
with a trusted friend/colleague/professional? by expressing our feelings in journalling, artwork and sharing those feelings in conversations?
What if we responded with courage by putting one foot in front of the other by remembering to breathe? by inhaling Ruach: by making time to ‘be’ (remembering that we are human ‘be-ings’ not human ‘do-ings’) by sharing our fear, stress, concerns with caring people and welcoming opportunities to live
… one moment at a time.
Hope has two daughters.
Anger.
Courage.
We choose our response.
As always, you are welcome to share
© June Maffin
www.facebook.com/groups/soulistry
https://soulistry.com/blog
www.medium.com/@junelogin
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The little figures were made wrapping paper napkin around paper clips. Sooooo easy and fun to do.
Thank you for continuing to inspire the world with hope and courage June! I love your posts!
This is so very timely. Many people are expressing anxiety and sadness about entering our second year of this pandemic. We need to keep being reminded that we do have to get up every day and put 1 foot in front of the other and find little bit of joy where we can… A surprise FaceTime call from a friend late at night, a favourite song on the radio, a hot hot cup of tea and a good book, picking up the phone and chatting with someone you haven’t spoken with for a while. This morning, when I looked out my window, a beautiful Sundog appeared on this -31C day. I will take that as a good omen!
Dear June, Your words are so spot on, as usual! I appreciate your constant encouragement!