Since I have nothing better to do, I read my sister's issue of
Broader Perspectives and I got totally inspired by this line:
Do not despise those who hope, for beyond those who are blindly optimistic are men and women whose hope stems from character and experience, and who are wholly committed to translate everyone's hope into genuine change.
Well, I disagree. (hint to stop if you don't want to read a GP essay)It seems more likely that with experience, you will be less hopeful isn't it? How everybody started off with so much faith that the world will provide, and gradually losing hope when hope fails you constantly, leaving you with that dark and empty feeling inside you. When you have that much hope, you naturally have greater expectations. In the event that things turn out bad, it hits you like nothing hits you before. The instant your hope is sapped out in that one moment, the instant where the world transformed from Disneyland to a barren desert, the disappointment you suffer when you realise that hope has failed you. We don't despise people who hope but we become wary of becoming hopeful. I remember this quote from
Joy Luck Club :"What was worse, we asked among ourselves, to sit and wait for our own deaths with proper somber faces? Or to choose our own happiness?" And then the women trapped in war chose to hope; to hope that the war will end soon and they could have their lives back. But even hope dies. Where can you find the strength to continue to hope despite the many setbacks?
Just like how your dreams and amibitions fade away as you grow up when you get opinions and changing priorities, you lose hope that you could ever become a doctor, a lawyer, an entrepreneur. Hope keeps you going, but can hope put food on the table? Can hope provide you with the necessary qualifications to survive this rat race? Hearing the government preach pragmatism for almost 20 years of my life certainly hasn't help me to keep believing. Hope gives you happiness, but it is only momentary. It is only when you feel helpless that you turn to hope as a last resort. THAT is reality.
