Monday, October 15, 2007 Necessity of hope By Henrylito D. Tacio Regarding Henry
"MAN is, properly speaking, based upon hope, he has no other possession but hope; this world of his is emphatically the place of hope."
The statement above, a product of Thomas Caryle's pen, came to my mind whilereading 'The Gift of Hope,' written by Susan Strohm. In her article, she tells of being at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, USA, awaiting the results of a battery of neurological tests. Doctors were searching for the mysterious cause of her periods of blurred vision and profound fatigue.
With Strohm in the waiting room was another patient also waiting for the results of her tests. As strangers sometimes do when they face a similar crisis, Strohm and the older woman shared fears and problems. The older woman talked about grandchildren, and Strohm spoke lovingly of her two grade-school children and worried husband.
After several hours, the older woman was called into a private office. She emerged relieved and smiling, telling Strohm her only problem was a light elevation in blood pressure. "I hope your tests results are as promising as mine," she told Strohm and added: "If they aren't, please try to find comfort in this little message."
The older woman extended her hand and pressed a small laminated plastic copy of Reinhold Niebuhr's serenity prayer into Strohm's palm - "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."
Almost immediately, Strohm was called to the neurology department, where the physician told her she had multiple sclerosis (MS). The doctor told her there were three distinct types of MS, but she had the "best" kind. It would not likely cripple her nor result in her death, he explained.
"I don't enjoy having the 'best' kind of MS, but I find immeasurable contentment in the message a caring stranger gave me," she wrote. "When hopeless depression threatens, I read those simple, fulfilling words and am reminded a higher power offers hope and refuge to all."
"Hope springs eternal in the human breast," Alexander Pope reminds. "The hopeful man sees success where others see failure," points out O.S. Marden, "sunshine where others see shadows and storms." In other words, hope is "independent of the apparatus of logic," to quote the words of Norman Cousins.
Someone once said that we could live for 30 days without food, eight days without water, and about eight minutes without air, but never for a second without hope. "Hope is essential to life, to physical soundness and sanity, and to a balanced outlook on life," explains Lemuel Ll. Niere, former editor of 'Health and Home' magazine.
In what way? Niere illustrates: "Hope sustains a marooned sailor through long days when no ship sails in sight. Hope spurs a cancer victim to keep on battling against overwhelming odds. Hope of parole bolsters the prisoner in his lonely cell as he anxiously waits for a presidential commutation."
Several proverbs have been written on hope. An ancient proverb reminds: "A misty morning does not signify a cloudy day." How true, indeed. An Arabian proverb notes: "He who has health, has hope; and he who has hope, has everything." Rightly so. The Turkish proverb advices: "Things never go so well that one should have no fear, and never so ill that one should have no hope." To which the English proverb warns: "Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst."
A lot of famous men have shared some ideas about the subject. "Hope is a waking dream," said Aristotle. Francis Bacon quipped: "Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper." Emil Brunner compared: "What oxygen is to the lungs, such is hope to the meaning of life." Samuel Johnson noted: "In all pleasures hope is a considerable part." (For comments, write me at henrytacio@gmail.com.)
