Hope
Written by Tony Amberg and Buki Ogunseitan, Chaplan Resident
"Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope, that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don't give up." --Anne Lamott
We are literally in the darkest time of the year – and more broadly, we are beginning the darkest days of an epidemic. In the midst of all this darkness, our work as providers is to be the keepers of Hope. Now, this is not a “happily ever after” kind of Hope; ours is a realistic Hope. We don't promise patients a fairy tale recovery. We do try to kindle and fan the spark of a new normal, both internally and externally. We encourage patients to be more flexible and less rigid -- to embrace possibility, uncertainty, and acceptance, in service of a better present and brighter future.
Can we do this for ourselves? Can we have a realistic Hope which makes us flexible and open to possibilities as we meet the day?
What’s more, Hope can be contagious. The very act of collaboration with someone very ill and to attempt to restore them is a declaration of Hope. We stubbornly hold the Hope for others until they are willing to hold it for themselves. Can we take the stubborn Hope we have for our sickest patients and give it not just to ourselves, but our colleagues as well?
Our answer must be Yes. As we look towards the New Year, we are cultivating the habit of Hope. Hope is pregnant with unknown opportunity. If you give it the chance, Hope is contagious and insistent. It defies current realities. It is the strongest medicine on earth. It drives us to crawl out of bed in the morning when we don't want to, and leap further than we dreamed. According to Lamont, "the person who hopes has Revolution in their heart." The Revolution is a future better than the present. If you give it the chance, Hope doesn’t just heal, overcome, or defy current realities. Hope creates new ones.
Work, wait and watch. Be stubborn. Carry Revolution in your heart. And Hope.