The hullabaloo is over. The crowds have all gone home. The hope of a different world holds many in its once diffident grip. I include myself among them, and although hope is something that leaders have been selling us on since the beginning of time, it is, I recognize, actually a very empty action. It is, in fact, not an action at all. It requires nothing of us. If I go under anesthetic for surgery I hope that I’ll wake up from the operation. If my boat sinks in the middle of the ocean, and I can’t swim, I hope somebody will rescue me. If I break the law I hope I won’t get caught. Hope holds itself out as if it were something to believe in even though it can change nothing in, and of, itself. But I guess the idea of hope is important, especially considering that the backside of that coin is despair. I’ll choose the hope thing every time.
We’ll see if those of us who expect a different world out of a different leader will actually do our part to make those changes happen. For some it means to stop hating those with whom you have disagreed in the past. For others it will mean the acceptance of a new direction. It must start inside of every individual.
Inside of every individual.
And like so many of us, I too, hope it all works out.
