You Gotta have Hope
By Diana Ellis, Suzuki Elder
Hope is complex. Some cling to it, others don’t believe in it at all. We lose hope sometimes, and gain it at other times. Our own historical place in society impacts on our sense of hope, and our experience with hope impacts on our thoughts and actions about our place in the world. Hope impacts our political views and our political views impact our feelings about hope.
Some thinkers tell us hope is useless, others say having hope is critical to our individual and collective health.
With our lifetime of experience with hope, we elders come at this topic from different paths – which is why a cacophony of voices often arise when the topic of hope comes up.
These challenging times (social inequity, pandemic, racism, environmental overshoot, drought, flood) compel us to wrestle with our own beliefs about hope, and about the future for ourselves and the coming generations.
Coming soon – an Elders dialogue on Hope
These dialogues, facilitated by the Suzuki Elder’s Education Working Group, won’t make a statement about what hope is or is not, but they will inform us about a range of perspectives and experiences on hope from different people.
These dialogues won’t advise us how to convince others to be hopeful, nor will they tell us what to say to your grandchildren and children about their future in these seemingly dystopian times. The dialogues will help us to think together about these things in an informed way.
Overall, the goal of the dialogues is to assist us, as individual elders, to become more deeply informed about aspects of hope so as to better understand ourselves, and our relationship with hope and the environmental future.
Check back soon for the date of the Elder’s Dialogue on Hope, which will soon be scheduled.
