What is hope? Hope is a word we’ve all known since we were toddlers. I used to associate the word with desires and wants such as: I “hope” I get a role in my musical or I “hope” I get an A on my test. However, a teacher at the school said something that entirely changed my idea of the word.
In between classes, a teacher by the name of Jaam Ra told me that she “teaches because she hopes a good education can make many lives better.” After that sentence, I no longer see things such as the desire to get a part in a musical or get an A on a test as genuine hope. If I want a role in my musical, I need to put in the effort to have a good audition; if I want an A on my test, I better study. These are just 2 examples of things that were under my control all along.
I now believe that genuine hope is not associated with desires or wants, but with needs. In Cambodia, I have met children who have as close to nothing as it gets. They were born into poverty and now own hardly anything more than a few clothes, a bright mind, and a shining smile. They didn’t choose to be born into their current circumstances. They have no control over where they are now. So what do they do? They go to school to practice their english, and they hope. They hope that tomorrow will somehow be better than today, and that the seemingly endless cycle of poverty will be broken.
That, is genuine hope.
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