something provocative: one year later

I wrote this last year and in fact strangely when I checked it, it was almost exactly 1 year ago to date. I am reminded of what I wrote today and although it caused a bit of stir when I first published it, I think it is time to review the concept of Hope, one year later.

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The ancient Greeks considered Hope to be as dangerous as all the other world’s evils. Hope is the quintessential human delusion, simultaneously the source of our greatest strength and our greatest weakness. Hope fuels the addiction of those who gamble (not just greed). Hope is what keeps me paid up and signed on everyday, clicking mindlessly through personals sites, listlessly waiting for the next ‘heart’, the next ‘wink’ or the next message from that right person. It is out of hope too, that we write about ourselves and place the best picture we have. Yes it is Hope.

Hope is one reason why people fall into depression. A large cause of depression is despair –the opposite of hope. It is the sadness and despair arising from a realisation that what one has hoped for is not going to happen that leads some to plummet into depression. If one did not hold out so much hope in the first place, – whether it be for a lover, a better career, or something more than one can physically want – then one would not suffer the loss of that hope. One wouldn’t then face the despair of despondency; the loss of hope when what is hoped for has not materialised.

Some of us find it difficult (and almost impossible) to ‘let go’ and ‘move on’ after a break up. This is most likely due to the fact that we are still harbouring (even the slightest sliver of) hope. Deep down there is a hope that the person we have lost will come back, or that there will be another chance at reconciliation. How can we ever expect to move on, to let go, to begin walk out of the darkness and into the light if we still hang on to hope?

Hope is a human condition, for with hope comes its twin – Expectation. Furthermore, we never only just hope – hope is built up through anticipation. Setting us up, unrealistically, for our eventual fall.

But surely Hope can’t be that evil, for we are taught about the wonders and powers of hope or to have hope. Most of the time, it really depends on the situation and more importantly how much we invest on hope. But, I still feel that Hope needs to be exposed for what it really is because we have been brainwashed to think that Hope is Optimism but nay, we are indeed misled, for while optimism may be rational and informed by facts, hope most often lack a strong connection to reality.