Gift of hope

By Hyon O’Brien

One of the treasures I have in my wallet is my library card. With this, I can borrow from the Miami-Dade County Public Library System not only printed volumes but also electronic books. Since books are awkward to travel with and large print editions are not always available, downloading digital eBooks onto my tablet better meets my needs. As my eyesight is not what it used to be, my reading a lot easier with eBooks that allow me to increase the font size and adjust the brightness of the screen.

My most recent loan is "A Gift of Hope: Helping the Homeless” by Danielle Steel. I was surprised to find a non-fiction memoir by this prolific author of more than 90 novels (worldwide, she has sold 800 million copies so far). I confess I have never read any of her fiction but the subtitle of this non-fiction work caught my attention. Helping the homeless, really?

It turned out that, stricken with grief when one of her children took his own life in 1997 at the age of 19, Danielle Steel searched for something to do for others in order to overcome her sense of loss and to honor her son’s brief life. For 11 years, she and a team of volunteer friends made a monthly visit to various places in San Francisco’s dark alleys and street corners to distribute clothing to homeless people.

Although she is a very private person, Steel decided to write about her work with the homeless in order to bring more public attention to the plight of these unfortunates. She points out that when these people live on streets abandoned by the society, their dignity as human beings is threatened and their hope for the future is dashed.

The dictionary defines hope as, "a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.” As I see it, this means a feeling of expectation with some degree of confidence, and a desire for a certain thing to happen with some expectation of obtainment, a belief in fulfillment. In other words, when we say the word “hope,” we are describing a state of mind with the firm, confident belief that something that we desire will be fulfilled and obtained. As Desmond Tutu says "Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.”

My recent reading illustrates how hope motivates people powerfully even when all odds are against them. In Laura Hillenbrand’s book "Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption,” I saw hope unfolding and sustained after Louie Zamperini, an Olympian runner and World War II bombardier, spent 46 days on a raft in the Pacific after his plane was shot down.

The horrendous experience of drifting 2,000 miles was followed by his capture and even more horrendous cruelty he endured as a prisoner of war in Japan for more than two years, but his unwavering attitude of hopefulness did not desert him. For years after the war, Zamperini was haunted relentlessly by daily nightmares of pain and suffering featuring a vicious Japanese guard who had constantly tormented him. His oppressor in effect kept Zamperini trapped in the war till he was able to let go of his murderous hatred and forgive his tormentor. Fortunately he was restored to his attitude of hope and he ended up living a fulfilled life, working and helping others till his death last year at age 97. We can look forward to the film version of ``Unbroken” at Christmas.

I witnessed this attitude of hope again in another book, "No Greatness without Goodness,” by Randy Lewis. As the father of a child with autism, he always maintained a positive outlook about his son’s future and in the end he was able to campaign for and implement the policy of hiring people with disabilities at Walgreens, the drugstore chain where he worked for more than 20 years. This pioneer movement of opening up possibilities for people with disabilities as permanent employees at Walgreens has inspired many other companies to follow suit.

I wonder how vital an act of ``hope” is to enable us human beings to press on in the face of difficulties. Would slavery still be condoned now if not for the hope of visionaries who fought to right the wrong and achieve change? Would the suffrage movement have succeeded in obtaining women’s rights to vote without the hope that somehow justice would triumph? Would Korea have advanced as it has without the hope that collective hard work and endurance would pave the way to a better life for future generations?

Would we able to face today without the hope that somehow we will find the way to defeat the Ebola virus with a new vaccine? Could humanity continue without the hope that somehow we can work together to find world peace in the many parts of the world that are undergoing indescribable suffering from oppressors with distorted religious fervor? On a personal level, can we go on living if we don’t believe that all the issues we have today ― in relationships, health, business, work, children and in so many other areas ― somehow, sometime, will all workout?

I certainly hope so. I don’t think we can greet another day without the hope that we will find a better day together.

Hyon O'Brien is a former reference librarian now living in the United States. She can be reached at hyonobrien@gmail.com.