Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.” – Dante Alighieri, Inferno
The above statement was posted on the gates of Hell in the first part of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Sort of like the last “FU” to anyone unfortunate enough to wind up down there. But it’s an important lesson for us today.
Hope is a hard condition to define. It’s a feeling that no matter how dire the circumstances, there is still another option.
The other morning, my wife commented on an article she read talking about steps to take in the event of a nuclear war. As a part of Navy Medicine, we were both trained early in our careers on NBC warfare (which is nuclear, biological, and chemical warfare). When the Cold War ended in the early 1990s, I remember much of that focus was lost. It seemed the threat coming from the Iron Curtain was over.
But I also remember growing up worrying about a nuclear war. I’m old enough to remember those duck and cover drills, both for nukes and earthquakes in my native California. It was scary. I think a lot of folks abandoned hope back then.
Today, with the threat of COVID waning, another threat of nuclear destruction is reemerging. For a population weary of constant catastrophes, it seems just a bit too much.
On the other hand, I’ve been around long enough to have seen this pattern. A new crisis. Lots of fear. Tons of misinformation. Then more knowledge and information. Soon, a solution. Then, crisis averted. Even in that classic Cold War 1980’s movie Red Dawn, the final scene has the narrator visiting Partisan Rock saying that “eventually, this war, like all others, finally ended.” My hope is that our current crises will end like all the others.
Hope is a powerful thing. It’s something to hang onto. Without it, all that’s left is fear, anxiety, anger, and blame.
Hope won’t just jump up and bite you on the ass. You must look for it. Something. Anything.
You won’t find it on the news, social media, or negative friends. I think it must start individually, with a commitment to not let fear occupy every waking moment.
We’ve not seen the last frightening thing in our lifetime. There is always something lurking in the shadows, ready to emerge when we least expect it. Hope and preparation are all we can control. Maybe we all need to seriously seek it out. And surround ourselves with positive people that have the same goal.