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The power of hope
“Before you give up hope, turn back and read the
attacks that were made on Lincoln.” (Bruce Barton)
I would like to
take the above quote one step further: Before you ridicule hope, consider
Lincoln’s entire life and career! One of America’s most impressive,
unforgettable presidents had a long list of failures and belittlements before
he finally became the country’s first man in a very crucial and dramatic time
for the country’s history: He lost jobs, failed in business ventures, dealt
with deaths of several loved ones at young ages, and was defeated at least
six times while climbing the political ladder
toward the presidency. Now,
that was a man who had all reasons to hang his head and give up hope. Yet, he
did not!
But Lincoln is not the only one we can think of when we
contemplate on the subject of hope.
* Think Nelson Mandela, the
great South African leader who remained imprisoned for 27 years before he
could start establishing righteousness in his country. And even when he
became the great liberator of South Africa, he was unable to maintain his
decennia-long marriage to his wife Winnie.
* Think Gandhi, who is
known as one of the greatest people in the twentieth century. He also had his
share of failures and human shortcomings: aside from the fact that he
successfully fought for civil rights in South Africa and the annihilation of
the caste system in India, he also had to witness the painful destruction of
his dream of a non-violent India. On a personal
note, Gandhi is said to have
been an abysmal family man with a mean streak.
* Think Dr. Martin
Luther King, who successfully led the civil rights movement in the United
States, but was post-mortemly dishonored with the rumors and confirmation of
his plagiarism of the famous “I have a dream” speech, as well as an intrinsic
part of his doctoral dissertation.
* Think Jesus Christ, whose
greatness really started soaring several centuries after his death, and whose
name till this day lives on in one of the world’s largest religions. However,
Jesus, too, had been banned from his hometown by elders, who were unwilling
to accept the advices from this changed young man wanting to teach them new
ideas and visions. Jesus’
assassination at a fairly young age, like M.L.
King’s and Lincoln’s, was just one more point on his list of perceivable
downfalls.
And yet, all these people have a few things in common: their
names remain in history as great ones; they established radical change on a
large scale; they believed in their calling; and they had hope. No matter how
many times they were ridiculed or browbeaten, they stood up: time and
again.
Hope determines our attitude: if we lose our hope we tend to give
up or give in, but as long as we maintain our hope, we keep going for our
goals; we keep getting up, every time we fall. Seen in that light, hope is
also the cornerstone of success. A well-known quote says that success is
getting up one more time than you fall. Who would do that without
hope?
Hope may be seen as one of the most frequently discussed and maybe
also most regularly ridiculed emotions. Many great people have recognized
hope as an important phenomenon in the human life. Aristotle described hope
as a waking dream. Cyrus Bartol saw hope as the parent of faith. Erich Fromm
defined hope as a readiness at every moment for that which is not yet born.
Norman Vincent Peale encouraged his audience to cease talking defeat and
start using words as hope, belief, faith, and victory. Art Linkletter linked
ones future destination to a responsible balance between memory and
hope. Napolean defined hope as the product leaders deal in. Vaclav
Havel
distinguished the difference between hope and optimism by clarifying
that hope is “not the conviction that something will turn out well, but
the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns
out.” Oliver Goldsmith defined hope as the light on our path through the
darkness.. Emily Dickinson perceived hope as an activity of the heart that
never wears
out. Charles Dickens poetically described hope as heaven’s gift
to struggling mortals. And Martin Luther King claimed that,
while disappointment is finite, hope is infinite.
So, where does hope
fit in business? Everywhere, of course!
* No entrepreneur takes the risk
of starting a venture without possessing a healthy dose of hope. So, hope is
also a solid foundation to risk taking.
* No leader maps out a
strategy without hoping that the course of matters will work out as
envisioned. So, hope, beside knowledge of the market, factual information
about consumer expectations, and calculated extensions of past trends, is
also the foundation in strategizing.
* No manager plans out the
daily, weekly, or monthly schedules without hoping that orders will keep
coming in, employees will remain motivated, machines will remain in-tact, and
the market will not crash. So, hope is also crucial in day-to-day
performances.
* No worker at any level will continue to perform
excellently at work without hoping that his or her efforts will be recognized
and remembered when time for raises or promotions occur. In this regard, as
in various others, hope also stands in line with endurance: it’s all about
hanging on and believing.
From the impressions presented above, we can
thus state that there are many emotions underlying, surrounding, and
radiating from hope: attitude, action, success, endurance, patience,
resilience, postiveness, risk-taking, goal-setting, strategizing, and belief,
to name a few. Hope is therefore a powerful phenomenon that, no matter how
often ridiculed, can never be discarded as insignificant. It is the driver
behind our actions, the fuel in
our pipes, the wind beneath our
wings.
If hope is mere
Disappointment postponed
Then we are
here
Like empty carcasses cloned
Then efforts are
A waste of time
So
welcome war;
hello there, crime!
If hope is but
An empty
farce
Then we should cut
Our aim at stars
And – from now on
Grow
wild and cruel
Perceive the sun
As one big fool
But if – as some
say
“Hope is life”
Then every day
Is worth a dive
In this great
pool
Of sparkling chances
Personality being the tool
To stretch all
fences.
Joan Marques, Burbank, April 8,
2004
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About the
Author:
Joan Marques emigrated from Suriname, South America, to California,
U.S., in 1998. She holds a doctorate in Organizational Leadership, a Master’s
in
Business Administration, and is currently a university instructor
in Business and Management in Burbank, California. You may visit her web
sites at http://www.joanmarques.com
and
http://www.spiritcounts.com
Joan's
manual "Feel Good About Yourself," a six part series to get you over the
bumps in life and onto success, can be purchased and downloaded at:
http://www.non-books.com/FeelGoodSeries.html
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