Noel Manuel
The most valuable inherent quality that we could have hoped to have in our lives is the eminence of ‘hope.’ It is not something that is gifted to us nor is it inherited from our ancestors. It comes programmed in our genes.
Hope is the food for our survival. It is the only substance that gives us reason to believe that life is actually worth what it is meant to be.
It breathes life into situations and keeps them alive till an outcome is finally arrived at. It transforms failures into victories and paints sadness into happiness.
We all hope against hope in situations that have little or no hope. But we just can’t avoid it. It is there to stay and whether we care to show it or not, there is no denying the fact that our lives evolve on hope, more than we could have imagined.
A mother, who enthused ‘hope’ into her son’s struggle to give up drugs, couldn’t be a better example of ‘hope.’
Sam had been pushing drugs for the past ten years and gradually took to peddling the drug in order to sustain his habit. He looked twice his age and the wrinkles on his face interpreted the language of his addiction. The flame of ‘hope’ in each of his family member’s had extinguished and if there was still a visible flame that existed at all, it was visible in the concern of his mother.
Like any other mother, she too had reason to ‘hope’ that her son could kick the habit, although her ‘hope’ too, was slowly beginning to get dimmer with each passing day. But Sam’s mother was a strong woman and not the sort to let her ‘hope’ die out, let alone her son.
Despite her old age, she visited various rehabilitation centers, de-addiction centers and reformation homes, with ‘hope’ in her heart to find a cure for her son. However, all her efforts proved futile.
Sam barely cared about how much his mother was actually doing for him. He was seldom ever sober to realize this ‘hope’ his mother was fighting hard to keep alive.
One day, on returning from his daily schedules, he headed straight for the kitchen and found his food orderly spread out on the table. It was rather unusual, because no matter how late he returned, his mother often woke up to serve him. Sam knew how much his mother loved him and this was reflected in the patient wait his mother had to undergo until her son finished his dinner at night. But what he did not know was that tonight it was about to be a little different.
There was neither anyone to serve him nor anyone to wait on him. Angered by the absence of his mother, Sam began to get violent and finally reached his mother’s room where he found her fast asleep. Peeved by her strange behaviour, Sam began to yell and scream in an attempt to distract her from her sleep - unawares that his mother had breathed her last.
Perturbed by her silence, Sam began to fear the worst. And finally his fears turned to reality. Soon the arrival of neighbors and relatives were able to help him control his emotions.
The next morning Sam was handed over a letter by one of the grieving relatives. It was found in the palms of his mother and addressed to him. It read, ‘my son, I’ve always ‘hoped’ that you were able to do the impossible and I still believe that you can do so. In fact, so much is my ‘hope’ in you, that I have never allowed the flame of ‘hope’ to be extinguished even for a while, believing that you will yet again light the flame that has been extinguished in each of your relatives! Though the world turned dark around me, I courageously kept that tiny little flame alight. But, unfortunately my body was unable to survive on the tiny flame alone, and therefore, much to my disappointment, I had to leave you. But the flame has not died out as yet and I ‘hope’ you will keep it burning in me, as much as I kept it burning in you. And this can only be made possible if you decide to embrace the worthiness of life and ignore the miseries of drugs.
It has been almost ten years now that Sam has given up drugs. The ‘hope’ of his mother has been kept alive and can be experienced in the radiance of his face. For now, he looks far younger than what he actually is and the mother’s ‘hope’ much brighter.
I have often overheard people saying that ‘hope’ often leads to despair. But what is life, without a little spice of ‘hope.’ When we ‘hope,’ we can look forward to something – be it anything or nothing. It stimulates our interest to believe that a result has to emerge out of every effort. And though, at times, the result may throw up nothing, there is always a sense of satisfaction to have added that spice in life, just once more to our inborn quality – called ‘hope.’
Children are the best examples of ‘hope’ and so are our youth. Our survival largely depends on how we plan and prepare the future of to be leaders. And ‘hope’ is the flame that keeps these plans and preparations alive till they finally fall into place.
If we lose ‘hope’ in whatever we do, it would be like losing the battle even before the first shot is fired. There are many true-life stories of the resurrection and rekindling of ‘hope.’ Some of them have become lessons for us in life.
Tennis is an interesting game and spectators require a lot of patience to actually enjoy the match. I remember watching a match in the 80’s between Swiss tennis legend Bjorn Borg and American John Mcenroe.
Two sets down and serving for the match Mcenroe couldn’t have had a better opportunity of humbling the legendary Bjorg. But, Bjorg wasn’t the kind to let go. Rising from the brink of defeat, he volleyed his way back into the match and stretched the competition to five sets. He finally won the match and the hearts of the crowd by rekindling ‘hope’ as a lesson for each of us.
We need to rekindle the dying flame of ‘hope’ in each of us, particularly when the flame in everyone else has gone out. For it is our flame that can help keep the plans and preparations burning until such time they materialize as we had ‘hoped’ for.
noelmanuel@rediffmail.com
The writer is the Bureau Chief (Nagaland) of Eastern Panorama (News Magazine of the Northeast), Coordinator of the Northeast Region (Poetry Society of India) and Life Member of the Poetry Society of India, Phonetics Trainer.
