HOPE IS A GOOD THING, MAYBE THE BEST OF THINGS AND NO GOOD THING EVER DIES

The above is from the movie "Shaw Shank Redemption" in a letter written by Andy to Red encouraging Red to not give up and to join Andy after Red is paroled. And Red does just that. So, is that statement true. Is hope the best of things and will it never die? How is that possible?

Is hope a basic aspect of being human? Will it live on in humans and never die? Fear makes it hard to feel hope. Fear is the enemy of hope and as Stephen King has been quoted as saying: "Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free." It does seem that fear can hold us prisoner as we are constantly controlled by our fears and are also at the mercy of our fears and at the mercy of people who fuel our fears in an effort to keep us afraid and immobilized so that we can be manipulated. This is a very sad way to live and will keep us prisoner until we can turn away from fear and embrace hope. 

If we are brave enough to see ourselves clearly and recognize that we do not need to be afraid and see others as working against us, then we can choose to begin to let go of our fears and begin to feel hope for ourselves and for the world around us. 

What do you think?

NO ONE'S COMING TO SAVE US

I was reading an opinion piece in the May 31, 2020 Sunday Review by Roxane Gay who reviewed all the bad things happening recently with many in our government continuing to not take responsibility for facing the truth of what is happening and then helping us to safely get through it. Ms. Gay then focused on racism and how the truth of institutional racism and exploitation is still frequently denied and yet many people of color still hope for a cure for racism. That is when Ms. Gay concluded that "no one's coming to save us." I then realized that "no one is coming to save any of us" and that we should be thankful. When anyone else "saves" me, you or anybody else, it never works out very well. We are the only one's who can save ourselves. 

So what is saving ourselves? Is it speaking our truth and being willing to stand by it and uphold it as we believe in it? What if no one else speaks their truth and thereby supports your efforts to remain true to your truth. Well then you will have to go it alone, believing that others will support you in tiime. Enough voices and actions can change things. Black lives do matter and it is wrong that our country has acted like they don't for hundreds of years. Before, if there was a recognition of the fact that black lives do matter, it was with a defensive position that all lives matter.  

What I believe is recognized now more than ever is that until black lives actually matter, no lives really matter.  We can only value our own lives if we value all others. This seems to be true. This reminds me of a political slogan about making America great again. That saddens me as it doesn't recognize that America has never been great because of our exploitation of African Americans and Native Americans. To go back would be to return to justify acting like black lives don't matter as exploitation would be continued. What encourages me is seeing the response by young people to the recent protests related to police violence towards African Americans. It seems like more and more Americans are actually choosing to believe and act like black lives matter. This gives me hope that America can be great [better] for the first time when we choose to act like, and live our lives like, all people actually matter.

QUESTION, PERSUADE AND REFER [QPR] PEOPLE WHO ARE SUICIDAL

With the rate of suicides in the United States as of 2015 [from the CDC, 2017] at 13.26 suicides per 100,000, there have been programs developed to help identify and get help for people who are suicidal. Many programs are focused on training gatekeepers [people who are likely to recognize a crisis and warning signs that someone may be thinking about suicide]. The QPR [Question, Persuade and Refer] program is an hour long gate keeper training program that according to the QPR Institute [www.qprinstitute.com] has trained more than a million people to be gate keepers. It is the largest program that trains "gatekeepers" who can then directly question people who are contemplating suicide and persuade them to seek help and then refer them to places that will help them. 

It is hopeful that programs like QPR are available to identify and help people who are contemplating killing themselves. This program reinforces the importance of talking with people that you are concerned about, asking if they are having suicidal thoughts and plans and being willing to listen without our own reactions, to those who are suffering. Then encouraging those people to seek help. I believe that our listening to others who are suffering gives them hope as they realize that they are not alone. What do you think?