This past Easter Sunday, as I sat in church and observed the congregation, I thought how wonderful it was to see so many people of all ages who dressed up beautifully to gather and celebrate the hope which truly lies at the heart of the Easter season. In a world that sometimes appears so full of hatred and dread, here was a church gathering of individuals celebrating their hope in our collective future. We have a deadly war going on in Ukraine, mass shootings occurring weekly, polarization in our political structure and social media platforms that are used to denigrate others without thought to the harm it might cause. Despite these dire descriptions, I choose, as did so many in that church, to believe and hope in a future where the goodness of people will greatly outweigh the negativity that seems so prevalent in our society.
Take some time to seek that which is positive in your life and expand that, and look at those occurrences in our society that exemplify that which is positive and good. I can find examples in my own life, where people took time to assist me or to assist one of my love ones. Finally, take a look at our broader society and you will find stories of people helping others; the neighbor who offers to help an aging resident with household maintenance, the individual who decides to donate a kidney to someone in their community, and the woman who drives her neighbor or friend to his or her chemo or kidney dialysis treatment. I could go on with more examples, and if you really gave thought it, you could come up with your own list of these acts of kindness. Each of these instances give us hope, that despite that which appears so wrong, we are a good people with a genuine love and concern for one another. Deep down, each of us has probably assisted, in some way, at making our world a better place to live. Think about Andy DuFresne from Shawshank Redemption, serving time for a crime he did not commit; it would have been easy for him to have given up hope, and yet he offers his friend Red hope for the future when he tells him, “Remember, Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”
Andy offered Red an opportunity to look at a future through hopeful eyes; may we all take time to look at the goodness in our society with a hope for a wonderful future.