My conversation with Hope.

Hope, the four lettered word that keeps us going. The intangible yet heartfelt assurance that fires up our bones and strengthens weak hearts. By it, the poor became not only rich but wealthy, in its absence the most courageous becomes chicken livered and the strengths of the mighty fails them. Hope, found in palaces and on the streets, accessible to all, utilised only by the wise. Tip toeing behind affliction, Hope is gentle and not forceful. The most needed commodity in our world today. Hope does not make ashamed. With it at the steering wheel, a journey of 10 years is easily taken. Without it, a trip as short as 1 minute becomes longer than that of Israel in the desert.rnA sibling of faith, Hope does not prefer the rich to the poor, the intelligent to the dull or the white to the black. It is readily available to all men alike. ‘All animals are equal’ is a saying not only relished but practised by Him. Unbiased and impartial, Hope strategically places itself where all men can easily access it. rnTheir faces creased with age and hands withered from hard work, the ancients looked into the future with nothing but Hope in their hearts. Hope it was which made them send their children to school. It was Hope that made them forfeit the pleasures of today for the unseen joy of tomorrow. It was not the picture shown them by the present, but what Hope whispered to them that propelled them to believe that there would be a tomorrow despite the ‘end of the world’ experiences their age and time presented them. Time would not forget the Africans who decades ago on the shores of America jumped to their death from the deck of a slave Vessel. Neither will it forget the slaves who chose to remain on the ship and took the path of slavery than that of ‘dying like a man’. I peeped into Hope’s Chronicles and what I saw baffled me. ‘It seems good to die with honour’ writes Hope, ‘but is it not more expedient to live and through our lives give others the chance of having a life, howbeit in slavery?’ ‘Hey Hope’, I queried, ‘but what did you expect the slaves to have done, die painful and un-dignifying deaths in the hands of total and brutal strangers or take their own lives?’ ‘In choosing between two evils isn’t it good to choose the less painful one?’ rnWith a smile spread across his face, Hope looked at me and gently replied ‘Who said their situation was the end of the road for them…?’ ‘What could be as bad as slavery? I quickly cut in’ rnThe smile across his face gave way to a stern look, ‘Slavery in itself was not the problem, but a lack of faith in the future. What matters is not the problem you are going through but your response to it. It is in times of trial that man needs Hope the most’ rnHe stood up and placed his silky hand on my shoulder ‘Slavery is bad, but Despair is worse.’ ‘Despair; which means to be overcome by a sense of futility or defeat is the number one attitude that man needs to deal with in his quest for a good life’. rnHope and I continued our conversation late into the night. ‘Oyin despair is worse than slavery’. Hope started after dinner ‘It is the slavery of the mind. The man who thinks he is defeated is indeed defeated. What goes on outside a man does not matter as much as what goes on in him’. rnHe paused as if allowing his last statement to sink in, and then he continued. ‘Despair does the exact opposite of what I do, I have been described as; the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best’. I am positive, despair is negative, I bring smiles to men, it brings tears, I bring fulfilment, the reward despair brings is regret. I give courage, it breeds fear. He who is in despair thinks nothing good will happen and such will either take no action or take the wrong action. The man who has me on the other hand understands that things will get better with time; he therefore takes steps that will reap good rewards in future.’ Hussain's Story Hussein was a nobody, an ordinary boy, the result of a marriage between two contrasting cultures. There was nothing special about him, two years into his life, His Mother left his Father. Single again after her divorce, 21 year old Ann had to cater for young Hussein alone until she married Lolo in 1967. Like many other African Americans, Hussein had a first hand experience of what it meant to be black in white America and being brought up by a single Mum did not help matters either, he was most probably accustomed to not having enough. Through all the struggles of his childhood, and all the criss-crossing from the back side of America to Indonesia and Africa that young Hussein did, Hope kept him alive. With the Hope that the dreams of Dr Martin Luther King Jr can become a reality, Hussein decided not to live life on the ‘I am black and disadvantaged lane’ he chose instead to believe that change is possible.rnAfter his secondary education, and after various stints at Los Angeles’ Occidental College and New York City’s Columbia University, and working for charities, this son of an African father and an American mother got admission to Harvard Law school in 1988. In 1996, driven by Hope and an ‘it is possible attitude’, 35 year old Hussein was elected to the Illinois State Senate. He was again re-elected in 1998 and 2002. Like every one with a ‘can do’ attitude, Hussein had his own share of setback. In 2000, he lost a Democratic Party primary election for the American House of Representatives. Undeterred by that, he made use of the opportunity that presented itself in 2002/2003. He announced his bid for the US Senate, an election he won by receiving 52% of the entire vote after contesting against 14 other candidates. In 2005, He was sworn in as a US Senator, the fifth African American Senator in US History. Less than 4 years after settling into his seat as a US Senator, Barack Hussein Obama II, contested for the Presidency of the USA under the Democratic Party banner and won. It was Hope that lifted this African American boy from the back of America, Africa and Asia to the corridors of power. God made man to reign in life; however Hope is needed for man to get to His God given position. Hope it was that made David live as a fugitive while waiting for the throne to come to him. Jesus walked in Faith and He Hoped in God when He stayed on the cross despite all the demons in hell taunting Him and God’s face turned away from Him. Hope does not make ashamed. It does not matter if you are on the ground today, learn from those who have gone ahead and imbibe their optimism. Hope opens the door of possibilities. It opens your mind to endless opportunities. What you thought is not possible is possible, you only need to hope and wait. Wait for the promise to come. Hope keeps you strong, nothing is impossible, the questions of today will give way to answers tomorrow, keep up your Hope, don’t give up. Above all Hope in God for He owns all life and He can do all things. Trust in God and you will ride on the wings of the eagle. All things are possible. Abraham believed in Hope when there was no Hope and He gave birth to a son in his old age. My dear friend, please believe in God, put your hope in Him and He will settle you. I will leave you with the words of Barack Obama, the Man whose first book was titled the Audacity of Hope ‘Yes we can!’ Those that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strenght