It is often oppressive circumstances that on gathers hope. Hope is the father of achievement. It reinforces ability, redoubles energy, fortifies existing talent, and increases faith. Armed with the power of hope, Rosa Parks sat down so that an entire race could stand up.
Hope places everything within perspective. It was hope that rescued the spirits of W.E.B. DuBois as he overcame racism and abuse at Harvard University and became the school’s first African-American Phi Beta Kappa. It was ope that propelled Naylor Fitzhugh through Harvard’s radically charged atmosphere nearly forty years later then he became the first African American to earn a master’s degree in business administration. And it was HOPE that enabled a shy farm girl named Annie Mae Bullock to endure hardship, an abusive marriage, and the roller-coaster ride of the music industry. Today, Janet Jackson fills concert halls as millions jam to watch her strut her stuff.
As our ancestors toiled within the cotton fields of the South, hope was born. As they worked, they composed songs, “sorrow songs,” out of their evironment. With eyes of faith, they could look beyond their innediate enslavement and translate hope out of their existing circumstances.
Remember, life may not always run smoothly. Life sometimes travels in a downward spiral. Sometimes on the road to success we get weary. Our feet hurt. It is during these trying moments that we must fill our hearts with hope.
