thoughts on the news of the day: hope is alive

hmmm…...

            Hope is alive. At least it lives for two Japanese daughters who lost their father in the battle of Iwo Jima during World War II.  It’s a long story, but basically it goes like this:  An American soldier discovered two items on the body of a slain Japanese soldier.  He gathered them up and took them home where they sat until just recently.  After a difficult search, the child’s drawing and the infant’s photograph were miraculously restored to their rightful owners.  "I feel like he has actually come back after all these years. I am very grateful," said the daughter who had been looking for her father since the war had ended.

            The daughter never gave up looking.  She held onto the hope that one day she would find her father.  Sometimes our hope gets the best of us; we cling to ideas that will never come to pass.  But often we give up just before the miracle arrives.  “Hope deferred makes the heart sick” goes the proverb. In other words, when we give up hope, we usually become despondent, depressed, disheartened.   

            It’s OK to hope.  It’s OK to dream.  It’s Ok to wish that things will get better … because oftentimes … they do.

            hmmm…..