Hope

Aristotle claimed that hope is the dream of a waking man. While Lord Byron thought that hope is nothing but the paint on the face of Existence; the least touch of truth rubs it off, and then we see what a hollow-cheeked harlot we have got hold of. But Seademon found a better meaning to hope, it's a hotel in Pennsylvania.

But then again, you can get a better meaning of hope from here. It's a belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one's life.

Something that you need to believe in. So does this mean a pessimist cannot hope?

Hope is indeed a dangerous thing. And Raistlin Majere summed it up very well. It is the denial of reality. It is the carrot dangled before the draft horse to keep him plodding along in a vain attempt to reach it. It can drive a man insane.

But we keep on hoping. We keep on hoping for better things to come. We keep on hoping for a better tomorrow. And we keep on hoping for happiness, and everlasting love.

But most of the time, things which you do not hope happen more than things which you do hope. That's life for you. Some people call it the irony of life. Alanis Morissette sang about it, "And life has a funny way of helping you out when you think everything has gone wrong and everything blows up in your face."

And of course, expecting something for nothing is the most popular form of hope. We prefer to just hope for a better everything, be it a better job with a better pay, or a better health. Yet, we do not do anything about it. That is when hope turns into a wish. And wish turns into dreams. And we sit all day long daydreaming about nice things, and a better tomorrow.

So, does this mean that you must not hope to be something more than you can be? Should you just settle with being you? Should you just be happy with what you have, and what you have achieved?

You need hope. You need to know that tomorrow will be better than today. And that is why we live on hope, like so many others born into this uncertain world.

There's hope for everyone. That's what makes the world goes around. That's what makes us keep on living. No matter how dark the moment, love and hope are always possible. And those who give up on hope and love, will never achieve anything in this world. We need to know that the greatest joy are found not only in what we do and feel, but also in what we hope for. A very small degree of hope is sufficient to cause the birth of love.

Hope changes everything, doesn't it?

At the end of the day, I think Thomas Carlyle said it all, "He who has health, has hope; and he who has hope, has everything."