Hope Rooted in Action
The older I get the more appreciation and reverence I have for our national holidays. It can be hard to move past the social media onslaught of quotes from people like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the cynical thinking of that being the extent to our engagement with the issues. Regardless, I appreciate the pause placed into our society’s calendar to slow down and reflect.
Today, like every year, I find myself reading up on MLK Jr. and being inspired by the movement he lead, the oppression he faced, and the ongoing conversation around equality today. One soundbite that stood out to me this morning was the following…
“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”
I don’t read this as a passive admittance, or a “come what may” kind of mentality. My belief is that infinite hope cannot be separated from action. If we are to hope infinitely in the possibility of a better tomorrow, or of a more just world, that hope has no choice but to inform and influence our actions.
It is that kind of hope that leads us to act courageously and contrarily to the status quo, in the same way that Mr. King’s like was marked by organizing, convening, and speaking truthfully. We act because we believe that things can be changed, otherwise we wouldn’t have the gumption to step out in faith at all.
My hope is that we can all find ways to live with an infinite hope and to actively pursue the causes that are close to our hearts. For this is the only way we’ll see and experience justice. Or as MLK Jr. said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
