therealljidol - week 7 - topic: hope.
This is the story, of a bird with no wings - but certain that it can fly.
What do we name it?
Hope is the right word - hope is the bravest, most beautiful bird in the sky.
These are the lyrics to a song that was just released. The song is performed by Idina Menzel. (The original Elphaba in Wicked, Maureen in RENT, Nancy from the movie Enchanted.... etc.) I would absolutely post the song, but it is not yet released to the public and only to members of her fan club.. so I can't.
It's funny though. Of all the weeks for a song entitled "Hope" to come out, this was certainly a good one.
As I sat there watching history being made this past Tuesday, I thought a lot about the word "hope" and about this entry that I still had to write. I wasn't sure what I was going to do it on. Part of me wanted to discuss the new soon-to-be president of the United States. Part of wanted to discuss my own life and the hope that I have found or lost among the way. Part of me just wanted to talk about Idina's new song and what it did for me - and I kept on trying to figure out what to do... and now it's Thursday night. I have to write the entry. And I still don't know what to talk about. So - I am going to do it all.
Hope...
I think that almost every one of us has lost hope before. Whether we have lost hope for ourselves, for other people in our lives, or for the entire world.. we have all felt the feeling of hopelessness. And, really, I think that that is one of the worst feelings to have. When you have no hope, what do you have?
You all know (if you have been reading.) that I have had a tough year. I sure felt that sense of hopelessness a lot. But, not anymore. I won't let myself anymore. I am finding hope wherever I can.
Everyone finds hope in different places.. here's where I find it.
In children. In particular, my cousin. I look at her and I see a child who has been through so much already. Her father died when she was only five. She had to learn, so early, about the life, and death, and loss. And, yet, she fiercely believes that she will see him again in heaven. She believes that he still loves her and that that is what is important. Her attitude gives me hope every single day. And, children in general. It sounds corny, but they ARE the future.
In my friends, and family, and even some people that I don't even know who have been through such horrible hardships but have managed to be strong and stick it through and have TRULY gotten through it. At one point, they held no hope for their own futures. Now, so many of them are so much happier than they ever thought possible. And some of them still aren't happy, but they keep waking up and getting out of bed every morning and living. And they know that eventually... things will be okay.
In the song I posted above. I don't know why, but it truly inspired me from the first moment that I heard it... even just the line I posted. It reminded me that you DO have to have hope, even when it's hard and that there is nothing better.
In people that are in love. No matter who they love - no matter what race, what gender, whatever. The people who love each other unconditionally, who have somehow managed to find each other in this crazy world and hold on to each other and cherish each other.
And... where else do I find hope? I hesitated in putting this in, because I don't want to upset anyone who may not feel the same, but I feel that I would almost be lying if I didn't include it, since it IS where so much of my hope is coming from these days.
In this man and his wife and his daughters and his vice president and his supporters.
In the country that he will soon be running even though I don"t even live ther.
I truly feel that whether you are an Obama supporter or not... that this still inspires hope. Look at how far the world has come. Yes - the fact that Obama is bi racial is not the reason that he should have been elected - and I don't think it was. But, I also do feel that this fact has to be brought to attention. I think it speaks such huge volumes of where we are today versus where we were not so long ago.
And, of course, there is so much more than his race. There is him. Who he is. What he stands for. He does give me hope. In fact, I have never in my life felt more hopeful than I did when Barack Obama was elected the next president of the United States.
And, you know what? Sometimes, I think it's HARD to have hope. What if you have all this hope and then you get let down? Won't that hurt more than if you just expect the worst all the time?
It might. But, to me.. to walk around with no hope, with no positive thinking that tomorrow will be better than today - to me, that is far worse than the chance of being let down. But, yes - hoping is hard. Hoping is brave. But, hoping.. is so worth it.
Hope truly is the bravest, most beautiful bird in the sky.
What do we name it?
Hope is the right word - hope is the bravest, most beautiful bird in the sky.
These are the lyrics to a song that was just released. The song is performed by Idina Menzel. (The original Elphaba in Wicked, Maureen in RENT, Nancy from the movie Enchanted.... etc.) I would absolutely post the song, but it is not yet released to the public and only to members of her fan club.. so I can't.
It's funny though. Of all the weeks for a song entitled "Hope" to come out, this was certainly a good one.
As I sat there watching history being made this past Tuesday, I thought a lot about the word "hope" and about this entry that I still had to write. I wasn't sure what I was going to do it on. Part of me wanted to discuss the new soon-to-be president of the United States. Part of wanted to discuss my own life and the hope that I have found or lost among the way. Part of me just wanted to talk about Idina's new song and what it did for me - and I kept on trying to figure out what to do... and now it's Thursday night. I have to write the entry. And I still don't know what to talk about. So - I am going to do it all.
Hope...
I think that almost every one of us has lost hope before. Whether we have lost hope for ourselves, for other people in our lives, or for the entire world.. we have all felt the feeling of hopelessness. And, really, I think that that is one of the worst feelings to have. When you have no hope, what do you have?
You all know (if you have been reading.) that I have had a tough year. I sure felt that sense of hopelessness a lot. But, not anymore. I won't let myself anymore. I am finding hope wherever I can.
Everyone finds hope in different places.. here's where I find it.
In children. In particular, my cousin. I look at her and I see a child who has been through so much already. Her father died when she was only five. She had to learn, so early, about the life, and death, and loss. And, yet, she fiercely believes that she will see him again in heaven. She believes that he still loves her and that that is what is important. Her attitude gives me hope every single day. And, children in general. It sounds corny, but they ARE the future.
In my friends, and family, and even some people that I don't even know who have been through such horrible hardships but have managed to be strong and stick it through and have TRULY gotten through it. At one point, they held no hope for their own futures. Now, so many of them are so much happier than they ever thought possible. And some of them still aren't happy, but they keep waking up and getting out of bed every morning and living. And they know that eventually... things will be okay.
In the song I posted above. I don't know why, but it truly inspired me from the first moment that I heard it... even just the line I posted. It reminded me that you DO have to have hope, even when it's hard and that there is nothing better.
In people that are in love. No matter who they love - no matter what race, what gender, whatever. The people who love each other unconditionally, who have somehow managed to find each other in this crazy world and hold on to each other and cherish each other.
And... where else do I find hope? I hesitated in putting this in, because I don't want to upset anyone who may not feel the same, but I feel that I would almost be lying if I didn't include it, since it IS where so much of my hope is coming from these days.
In this man and his wife and his daughters and his vice president and his supporters.
In the country that he will soon be running even though I don"t even live ther.
I truly feel that whether you are an Obama supporter or not... that this still inspires hope. Look at how far the world has come. Yes - the fact that Obama is bi racial is not the reason that he should have been elected - and I don't think it was. But, I also do feel that this fact has to be brought to attention. I think it speaks such huge volumes of where we are today versus where we were not so long ago.
And, of course, there is so much more than his race. There is him. Who he is. What he stands for. He does give me hope. In fact, I have never in my life felt more hopeful than I did when Barack Obama was elected the next president of the United States.
And, you know what? Sometimes, I think it's HARD to have hope. What if you have all this hope and then you get let down? Won't that hurt more than if you just expect the worst all the time?
It might. But, to me.. to walk around with no hope, with no positive thinking that tomorrow will be better than today - to me, that is far worse than the chance of being let down. But, yes - hoping is hard. Hoping is brave. But, hoping.. is so worth it.
Hope truly is the bravest, most beautiful bird in the sky.