Life is Hope

Life is Hope

“Hope, it is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective; a lot of

hope is dangerous. A spark is fine, as long as it’s contained.” (Suzanne Collins, The

Hunger Games) Last year a baby was born, named Magnolia (Maggie) Grace. She was

six days old when her mother, Raffaele Sollecito got a call from the doctor, diagnosing

her with the thing people fear the most. Cancer. Stage three to be exact. One of the best

times in her life was overshadowed by this deathly disease. She fought hard though so

that she could be there for her daughter. When she was interviewed later on about

surviving cancer her response was, “Hope. I would go down the rabbit hole of fear very

quickly, but then I’d look at Maggie and the hope would come back. I didn’t want to

leave her without a mother.”

In the dictionary hope is defined as “The feeling that what is wanted can be had or

that events will turn out for the best.” That is what Raffaele felt all those months. That’s

what so many people feel everyday. Fear can lead to somebody doing crazy actions or

having crazy thoughts. Hoping, though, even a tiny bit, is enough to balance out the fear.

Hoping is what got Raffaele Sollecito through all those dark months. My story may not

be as dramatic as Raffaele’s, but it was a dark time all the same.

High school is the hardest point of a person’s life. When the life you’ve been

building up for years starts crumbling around you, there’s nothing left for you but hope.

When the person I loved and trusted the most became lost to me I felt like I had nothing. I

felt like there was no point to life anymore. I felt as if nothing good would ever happen

again; I feared that I would never be able to trust again. Sometimes my hope would

become so strong that when I was shot down my hope would shatter, leaving nothing but

fear in its place. People live their lives hoping. If people had no hope, their dreams and

goals would never be accomplished. The months after loosing that person was a war. I

fought against myself. My logical side kept telling me to keep going, keep pushing

forward, that things would get better. My dramatic side told me that there was nothing

left for me. My logical side was able to hold on to hope long enough for me to realize

that it was okay, that there was more.

Eventually I was able to admit to myself that I’d been a coward, that I’d been too

scared to admit to myself that letting go was okay. The hope my logical side had been

holding onto had been desperation. Once I realized it was okay, that desperate hope

became eager, excited hope. Hope for a bright future, hope for an exciting future.

I was finally able to contain the spark. Hoping that things would get better was

what kept me going those months, even if the hope was desperate. In the end the whole

ordeal made me stronger minded, smarter and more wary about the people I trust and the

way I feel.  I like to think it changed me for the better. Having hope is an important part

of life and learning how to control the spark is a hard lesson to learn.