When Hope is Gone
What will you choose when all hope is gone?
When there is no hope left?
What will you do?
What will you choose?
Will you still do the thing you were doing when you hoped it would make a difference?
When you thought it was the right thing in the face of fear and dread?
Will you set your face forward and put one foot in front of the other?
Will you still choose life over death?
How it should be over how it is?
Even if there is not a sliver of hope left,
Will you act in defiance?
Refuse to give in?
When war rages round you,
When cruelty laughs in your face,
When contempt for tenderness is spat at your feet,
When sorrow engulfs you,
Will you rise from your knees and stand to simply open a door for a stranger?
All the little things you did with hope in mind.
Hoping that taking a bin out for a neighbour will counter war and bring Peace.
Hoping that picking litter from the shore will save the ocean
Hoping that feeding a robin will protect the woods
Hoping that planting wildflowers will save the bees and prevent extinction
Hoping that donating a warm jacket will end homelessness
Hoping that setting an extra place at your table will end loneliness
Hoping that eating apples and broccoli will heal your body
Hoping that a walk in fresh air will settle your mind.
So, what will you do if all hope is gone,
When it looks like there is not a sliver left,
That you are past the point of no return
That you cannot make a difference
What will you choose to do?
It is not hope that changes the world, certainly not the kind that is little more than wishful thinking.
Hope is the action that we take in the darkest times because to give in, believe in less and behave in any other way would be unthinkable.
Hope is the humility to concede our failure and loss and still behave as though abundance was certain.
Hope is the choice to manifest the world we want in the moment without any other assurance
So, rise,
Stand
In the dark,
In the mess,
Exactly where you are
Even if your back is against the wall
And you are lesser than you wish to be
Do one generous thing at a time
Regardless of the outcome
Relying not on the hope that you will see the world change around you
But in the belief that you are the
Instant,
Ordinary,
Everyday
manifestation
Of light
And redemption
Present
In that moment
And that moment
And that moment
And that moment