President Obama, Persistence, and Hope

President Obama said last night that he’s a “big believer in persistence.” Are you? I am. For good or not, tenacity, perseverance, and sometimes just plain stubbornness mark my character. Kenny Rogers sang, “You gotta know when to hold em’, know when to fold ‘em, know when to walk away, know when to run.” Whether you nod with our President, and believe firmly in determination, or sing along with Kenny, doubting that pertinaciousness in itself is a virtue, one thing is for sure: if you’re not persistent, you probably can’t maintain hope for very long. Think about it. When you give up on a goal – when it becomes too difficult, discouraging, or painful – you give up hope, at least hope for accomplishing or achieving whatever it is you set your sights on.* When you’re running a marathon and don’t think you can go on, you persist because you have hope that your legs will carry you over the finish line. When you have cancer and you don’t want to continue with chemo, you persist because you hope for a cure. When you’re in the middle of a hot argument with your lover and want to run screaming out the door, you stay because you hope for resolution. We persist. Like Sisyphus, we continue rolling that rock up the mountain, even when we’ve seen it roll back down again and again, because we hope. We hope. We hope. Wishing you love, strength, and always hope,rnLorirn-- Lori HopernAuthor • Essayist • Perennial Optimist www.LoriHope.com *Note: There are obviously times when you should give up hope; and in cases of abuse or other dangerous or potentially dangerous situations, there’s no question that you should not only walk away, but run.