That Hopey Changey Thing is Our Best Ally

I was relishing the sunshine this morning as I walked, listening to my favorite hip-swaying, tunes,(after listening to the depressing news) when it, again, hit me — hope is our best ally right now. It’s symbol is the sturdy anchor that holds ships in place during rough weather. And I think Covid 19 definitely qualifies as a storm.

Hope keeps us moving forward every day. I hate to disagree with Miracle Max in the Princess Bride, who said, “If you haven’t got your health, you haven’t got anything,” but hope is more important.

It’s hope things will improve that keeps you going when you’re sick, laid off, furloughed, fired, divorced, heartbroken, or just broke. Hope is why you take that medicine, apply for that job, go to school, get divorced, try a dating site, a new profession, or just buy a lottery ticket. That hopey changey thing is the difference between people who’ve given up and people who get up, time after time, and keep trying. And anyone who makes light of it is simply ignorant because hope can move an entire country to action.

I remember a conversation with my dad years ago. We were talking about his life during the height of the depression. He was a teenager, from Italy, still learning English. He was living with a family, but had to bathe in the river, wasn’t allowed to eat in the same room with them, and had to sleep in shifts so the other boarder, who worked nights, could get in bed at 6 a.m.

He said, “Things were so bad, if someone had said to me, ‘Hey, let’s go rob a bank,’ I might have gone along with it.'” This, from a good man who never took a cent that didn’t belong to him. That’s how miserable things can get when there’s no hope.

He said President Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corp in 1933 saved his life. I think it was brilliant to take all these able-bodied men and employ them doing something for the good of the country. Maybe we could use it again to lift us out of our current financial crisis once we find a vaccine/cure for the Corona Virus. Take a look at this link from the History Channel on the CCC and you might agree.

I’m thinking about hope today because I just heard that one of my readers has come down with Covid 19. She’s the first person I know who’s had it, and I’m hoping she’s the last. I want her to stay hopeful things will get better. It’s not your health, it’s the hope your health will get better that keeps you going everyday.

We have to hope there’ll be better days coming, with better health, jobs, relationships, baseball, football, and good music to keep us happy as we keep moving forward. Sempre Avanti, as my father used to say. Always forward.