The Rays of Hope

One of the essential things in life is to know what is not because your knowledge of what is not will guide you to quickly identify what is. - Segun Coker

In our bid to redefine hope we must identify what hope is not. Like the famous saying, common sense is not common, so it is with several common words whose meaning and understanding are not ordinary. One of such terms is love; love is one word that is so used in conversations to the point that its true meaning is mostly misunderstood. Flooded in our songs, articles, thoughts, and conversation is the word love but just a handful of people truly understand the depth, width, breadth and height of the concept of love.

In the same manner, hope is widely used in sentences; it is used in our attempt to revamp others and ourselves but the true essence is greatly misconceived. Many people see the word hope' as an escape route from depression, which is merely a wish. These people conceive the idea of hope as a means of getting themselves disconnected from the present state of despair and a system of getting temporarily excited about life. Such people claim to hope that someday things will get better. Of course, these sayings give them a temporary boost of adrenaline but because hope is not a feeling, this state of excitement never lasts long before they fall back into depression, been overwhelmed by the cares of life.

Another group sees hope as a consolation system and acceptance of fate; this in itself is an expression of complacency and mediocrity. They think there is nothing much to life than the ordinary; they believe some are born great while others are born to be just any other thing but great. Their consolation lies in words like what will be will be and these words sound factual but that to a mediocre. When you meet these two groups of people and ask if they ever have hope, their answers will be yes, for sure but the content and contextual understanding of their concept of hope is not accurate. Hope is not a wish, neither is it a consolation. The elements of hope span beyond just a wish or a feeling; it predicates on a defined knowledge.

Hope is not a wish, neither is it a consolation. The elements of hope span beyond just a wish or a feeling; it predicates on a defined knowledge.

Just as we have these two groups at the end of the extreme, we have the third group of people at the other end yet. These people do not conceive hope as a wish nor a feeling, but their understanding of the subject is myopic and equally erroneous. In their views, they think they have a positive mindset or what is regarded as a superior complex, this is not wrong in itself, but I do believe it is not entirely true. I think there is a bit of neutrality in what they call positive esteem.

These people reduce the concept of hope to those who live in despair, humans who live in servitude to others or those who are attacked by one form of oppression, depression or the other. They limit the subject to a state of lowliness, and this is not true. Hope is not for a set of humans or a class of people; hope is for men. The only criterion that excludes one from the concept of hope is that such is not a man [male or female notwithstanding]. In so much, you are a man, living on this planet, the concept of hope, just like the law of gravitation, is binding on you.

Hope is not for a set of humans or a class of people; hope is for men.

Addressing this third group would not have been necessary safe the rate of suicide these days, especially among the young ones, is alarming because young people has not been properly mentored to know that life swings like a rollercoaster, you might be up today and down tomorrow. Still, you will surely rise again the day after. When many people who hold onto this third ideology encounter life challenges, they quickly resort to quitting; their inaccurate understanding of the concept of hope denies them of the fortitude to press on. This is inevitably so since people perish for lack of knowledge, primarily because of its rejection.

Hope is not only needed to scale a height, it is also very essential to project a flight. It is not just needed to climb out from a valley, it is also necessary to launch a parachute on the air. The poor lad on the farm needs hope to emerge a professor and the professor in the aeroplane needs hope to become an emeritus even a Pro-chancellor. Every class of man needs hope to live out their dreams and aspirations.

Hope is progressive, and it is the wheel of advancement.

Hope is not just for the moment, so we cannot attribute it solely to those having momentary difficulties or challenges; hope is very much futuristic. Everyone who desires a future and a desirable end must possess it. Hope is progressive, and it is the wheel of advancement. No project advances if the initiators do not hope for it to; hence, hope is not something elective in the journey of human life.

Hope defined

Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary defines hope as wanting something and thinking that it is possible; a belief that something you want will happen. Many other books of meanings state likewise, but I prefer this definition by way of context. We can deduce from this definition that hope is a composite whose constituents include a desire, positive thinking and a strong belief of certainty.

I strongly believe that hope is a patient optimistic belief in the certainty of a graphical conception of the mind birthed from an impression or a conviction. From this definition, the constituent of hope includes patience, optimistic belief [faith], a graphical conception of the mind [thought, idea, vision] and impression or conviction [knowledge].

Hope is a patient optimistic belief in the certainty of a graphical conception of the mind birthed from an impression or a conviction.

Hope, as an entity is not self-sustained. Patience, knowledge and faith are required to keep hope in an idea alive. Everyone whose hope has come to fulfilment will attest to the truth that such ideas were thoroughly assessed for them to get intimate with its nook and crannies. Then, they committed an irrevocable element of themselves into it. They have come to know the idea or thought well enough and committed themselves to it in faith that it will work this is more than a feeling or a wish. Some of them must have gotten to points where they seemed to lose sight of hope in the idea until they met with a motivation that reawaken them because if a mans hope can be reawaken, there is nothing that will be impossible for him to achieve.

Medically, the chances of survival and recovery are heightened in patients that have just undergone surgeries associated with the head or were long admitted for coma crisis if they have loved ones rally around them to cheer them up. When these families and loved ones come around with balloons, cakes, candles, pictures, flashcards and many other objects, the desire to live is reawaken, and their hope is stirred by the visual signals sent into their mind through their eyes. Some of them may not be able to speak or move their bodies, but in as much as their eyes can see these activities, they tend to respond excitedly to life.

The dose of life is hope, for hope makes alive: when there is life, there is hope, and when there is hope, there is life.

As it is with medical patients, so the principle of awakened hope works in sociological, emotional, psychological patients or in whatever case. If hope is reawaken on any subject, then life can be refreshed because the dose of life is hope. Hope makes alive for when there is life, there is hope, and when there is hope, there is life.

Many times when people set out on a project or aspire to achieve a goal, they get to encounter difficulties that threaten the possibility of the adventure and the response of a majority is to quit the pursuit. Many people had quitted in business, forgone a degree and terminated a project simply because of a momentary challenge. We often desire to have a groundbreaking achievement without preparing our mind with the consciousness that it takes effort to penetrate the topsoil. We ought to bear in mind that there is no conquest without a combat and behind every prize is a price.

Understanding the concept of hope will help humanity, especially the youths, to develop a healthy mindset towards their pursuits in life and destiny. With this understanding, young people will be equipped with resilience and optimism, knowing that tables turn every once and again. The truth remains that every human has hope but not everyone understands what it means to hope. I do not seem to have met an individual who does not have hope in one thing or the other, but in my observation and deductions, I have found out that not everyone understands what it means to be hopeful. It is one thing to have hope but it is yet another thing to remain hopeful. The rate at which people quit shows that they do not sustain the capacity to keep hope alive. Understanding the entity of hope will help men know that winners are not people who never fail, but people who never quit. Sometimes, we need to face the fact that failure may be a part of the prices that must be paid in our attempt to achieve success.

In a conversation, the great inventor, Thomas Edison said, I didnt fail. I just found 2000 ways not to make a light bulb; I only needed to find one way to make it work. Young people ought to know that challenges are inevitable in any profitable pursuit and failing at some point does not make you a failure unless you settle for it. Like Mr Edison, failure should only teach you how not to do it the next time, it should not mean a stop in trial. John C. Maxwell once advised that you fail often, fail early and fail forward; to mean that you ought to take risks early and do not quit if you fail, learn and try again. When people develop this kind of mindset, hope will be kept alive and with full vigour they can face life challenges and like Confucius they can know that our greatest glory is not in never failing but in rising every time we fail. It is not a question of having hope as it is of keeping hope alive and it takes understating to do that.