A matter of Hope & Faith
Hope!
, One of the finest gifts to mankind. Imagine a life with nothing to look
forward to. In times when life looks grey, we all think of a better tomorrow
and that drives us. The absence of hope will make our life bland and
exasperating. A feel good movie is banking on this concept, so is a
political campaign.
What
has all the gargantuan scams done to us apart from the economic loss to the
exchequer? Name any well known industrialist, bureaucrat, politician; he/she is
tainted. The highest damage is the gaping hole it has left in our faith.
Hope
has its root in faith. If your life has not given you enough instances to
believe in the concept of faith, chances are you might never really understand
what hope is all about. This might explain why some of us are pessimistic about
life and the rest prefer to look at the brighter side.
For
ages, the human race has feasted on hope. That’s how we keep the journey going.
Absence of hope means a closure, a dead end. It leads to anxiety. Ever thought
what a death sentence does to a convict? It does instil grief and takes that
person down the abyss of fear. But most of all, it kills hope. The
scariest part will be the absence of the existence of future beyond a point in
time.
Hope
is always extrinsic where as faith can be both. One has faith in oneself and
faith in the society at large. Loss of faith in the society leads to the unrest
that we see today around the world although loss of faith in oneself can be as
much destructive, if not more.
It is interesting to note that there
is an element of uncertainty attached to hope. By nature, most of us prefer
clarity, certainty. But hope looks at the positive side of ambiguity. This
positivity translates in to energy which keeps us going and that helps us to
endure.
In this day and age when uncertainty
is the order of the day - be it in economy , governance or life in
general ; Let’s hope our faith endures the test of time.
Arun Babu
