Dr. Jane Goodall has a new mission. Propelled into the public sphere by her study of chimpanzees that redefined our understanding of the natural world, she has spent recent years supporting a new phenomenon that is uniquely human: hope[1]. As we look toward the future, I believe she has identified one of the most important tools necessary to empower us to build a world that we want to live in.
I first noticed our generation’s aversion to hope in high school. I was president of a business club, and I was discussing with some of my friends the possibility of qualifying for nationals which would be taking place at Disneyland a month before graduation. Even though it would certainly be a fun trip, my friends were very anxious about getting excited for it before we all qualified. Everyone was uncomfortably familiar with disappointment, and there was a strong aversion to getting our hopes up before there was a guaranteed pay off.
Quite frankly, it makes sense that we have only become more avoidant in terms of embracing hope. The past twenty years have been characterized by increasing signals of climate change, the first major pandemic since the Spanish flu, unprecedented political uncertainty, and the emergence of turbulent technology spanning from the “like” button to generative AI. In a word, it’s been exhausting. The status quo has been obliterated, and it often feels naive to imagine the future that so many of us want to achieve.
Even though there are so many reasons to think otherwise, it is vital that we do not abandon hope. It is a finicky thing, difficult and costly to maintain, but without it we cannot live up to our potential. We become reduced to a species limited by the self-imposed restraints of our imagination, only passively experiencing happiness, too afraid to fight for it for fear that our work will be for nothing. Terrified that fighting for the life we want will leave us with less than what we started.
A quote has been circulating online in recent weeks. It has no known date or author. It is as if it has been whispered into our cultural lexicon by one of the muses, driven to intervene and continue to inspire creation in the face of insurmountable odds. It reads:
“People speak of hope as if it is this delicate, ephemeral thing made of whispers
and spider’s webs. It’s not. Hope has dirt on her face, blood on her knuckles, the grit of the cobblestones in her hair, and just spat out a tooth as she rises for another go.”
The key part of this message is that hope is a choice. Whether or not we embrace this decision can have profound consequences. Carol Graham reported through the Brookings Institution that “downward trends in hope are a key factor in the rising numbers of U.S. deaths of despair”[2]. Compare this with Professor Sarah Stitzlein’s research which has identified that hope is key to connecting communities together and helping them envision a better future, making it a crucial component of the continuation of democracy[3]. A lack of hope can literally have a death count, and the presence of it is key to the perpetuation of the best part of the institutions that make up our society. Certainly this is a strong enough case to push us to be at least a little more proactive about pursuing a hopeful society
So how do we turn the act of hoping into a proactive rather than passive experience? I think that there are two key mechanisms for achieving a hopeful society, or at least serve as a good starting point. The first: community engagement. This does not necessarily mean service, though that certainly fits, but more broadly simply being an active member of our communities. Use public libraries. Go to the theater. Find a new local restaurant. Join a book club. By engaging with the immediate world around us we learn to see humanity more abundantly in a way that can be grounding and reshape the stories we tell about ourselves and the rest of the world. The second mechanism: relationships. Even when the weight of uncertainty and fear feels impossibly heavy, relationships can infuse our lives with meaning and give us the strength to keep moving forward. The very act of being a part of a community or developing a relationship is an expression of hope, and when we learn to make these a priority in our lives the results can be transformative.
I recognize that hope is a tricky thing. It can propel us to new heights and drive us to achieve things that we otherwise never could. But it can also be dangerous, because to hope for something is an expression of vulnerability. It is to fight for something that is uncertain, and in that uncertainty there can be an infinite combination of joy and pain, never knowing if one can truly outweigh the other. But that ambiguity does not deny its importance. In fact, I believe that it is the most important tool to help us move past survival and increase our capacity to thrive in even harsh environments.
As Dr. Goodall has identified, “Hope does not deny the evil, but is a response to it.” When we are confronted with life’s cruelties, hope does not need to be another casualty. It can be a vital tool that helps us stand up again, and have the audacity to keep fighting for what matters most in our lives. We just have to be brave enough to choose to use it.
