Hope is a word that we humans tend to use a lot when we pray or wish for things that we aren’t convinced will happen. We tend to use it when we are wishing things to be a certain way and aren’t betting on them turning out as we wish, and often it’s heard when there are crossed fingers involved. The old saying that while there is life there is hope has kept me going a few times, and I know hope is an essential commodity that we need to keep close to our hearts in order to make our days tolerable or our pain bearable.
But then I wonder sometimes…is there always hope? I surely never thought I would be doing many things that seem fairly normal to me now, and I have made it through many times when I didn’t feel it was likely I would, but is there really always hope while there is life? Does that mean if a person is not alive without machinery keeping her breathing and her heart beating is there still hope? Is that still life? Since we can’t scientifically prove at this time when someone’s sprit, soul, or being leaves the body when exactly do we stop hoping? Or does that just mean we hope for different things perhaps? What about more mundane situations then?
My question would be when would it be okay to stop hoping if ever? I know there were many times people were ready to give up hoping for me to heal or be healthy, but really sometimes it takes a very long time to “get” something or to even be ready to heal, and if we give up too soon then that would mean so many possibilities would be missed. So my question tonight is one that I think has a different answer for every situation and person. I guess I didn’t quite give up on me, and maybe that is the part that counts. So is it then when a person gives up hope for himself that we get to stop hoping for him or change our prayers to a new type of hope for peace instead of life perhaps?
Nope, since the mental health professions would tell us that is when we must take control of the situation until the person starts hoping again. Is a patient allowed to stop hoping or should she believe that “while there is life there is hope” and keep trying to survive? I’m asking a lot of questions tonight, but I have few answers. If no one had helped me find some hope again I wouldn’t have a lovely family and wonderful kids, but it doesn’t turn out that way for everyone. It’s a pretty good idea to get straight in our minds what hope means to us I think, and to share that with loved ones so they are left sitting here as I am doing now and wondering what hope really means and when it is time to say, “Enough”, whether it is with illness, an accident, a mental illness, a relationship, or a dream. What are the boundaries in our lives where when we cross them and take off our ring, hang up the phone, stop letting people treat us badly, hold on to life, or stop expecting an outcome that isn’t likely? I can’t speak for anyone else of course, but I have been thinking about this for awhile. I haven’t gotten it all figured out yet, but maybe I will soon before I really need to know. At least I hope so…
Beautiful.
I hope so too!