Hope – Episode 65

"... we shall hew from this mountain of despair a small stone of hope." — Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. What is hope? How do we find hope when we are overwhelmed by a mountain of despair? Spencer, Maria, and May talk about their experiences of finding hope in the midst of their times of confusion, fear, and despair. Some of the questions we used to guide our discussion included these: How did you experience hope before you came to the program? Did you “hope for” particular outcomes? Has your conception or experience of hope changed as you have worked the program? Do you see a difference between having a hopeful attitude versus an optimistic attitude? The "Stockdale paradox" is that the POWs in Vietnam who didn't survive were the optimists. In his “dream” speech, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. said “With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.” What does this say to you? Does faith support or engender hope for you? (Faith in a higher power, faith in the program, faith that there are good people, faith…) How can we find hope in a seemingly hopeless situation? Can hope lift us from despair, as King suggests?