Sometimes I find inspiration in the most unexpected of places.
Recently, I was reading a Young Adult novel as I needed some brain candy to escape a bit and relieve some stress. In the midst of this novel, the main character and his teacher were talking about Moby Dick and Captain Ahab’s relentless pursuit of this whale and whether or not he is a fool for being obsessed. The teacher states, “But you could also argue that there is something tragically heroic about fighting this battle he is doomed to lose. Is Ahab’s hope a kind of insanity or is it the very definition of humanness?”
I must confess that I have never been a big fan of Moby Dick or Melville’s writing in general, but this particular take on Ahab’s plight struck me. How often do we condemn, patronize or make fun of others or ourselves for fighting what seems like a losing battle? And yet, how many times has persisting in clinging to hope in spite of all evidence to the contrary paid off in unimaginable and impactful ways?
To be clear, I am not talking about simply wishing. Hope is different than wishing. Hope requires a deep level of unwavering faith (in the moment that we have it) and a willingness to take some sort of action, be it large or small. I am also not talking about fighting a battle that is not healthy.
Holding onto a dream and expecting it to fall into our laps without recognizing opportunities for and/or actually taking steps to make it happen…
Pursuing someone or something that we know deep in our heart is not right for us, particularly if the universe has made this crystal clear…
Righteously fighting with an expectation that everyone should convert to our religion, political beliefs, etc particularly when we have not taken the time to understand and appreciate others’ beliefs…
These are not the heroic acts that metaphorically parallel Ahab’s quest nor are they the battles that I would encourage or endorse anyone to fight.
All of that aside, fighting what appears to be a losing battle is a very human trait. We often don’t acknowledge this in meaningful or public ways because while persistence in these efforts is a common characteristic of our species, so is denial and the inclination to believe that doing so is foolish and a waste of time. Most of us therefore fight this tendency and instead settle into our comfortable routines and the acceptance of what we believe to be our fate. How odd is it that we, as humans, can be some of the most persistent creatures in the face of adversity and yet we deny this tendency and support a society that reinforces this denial.
How many times have you observed someone lamenting the greed that exists in the world, the lack of human rights available to some of our most vulnerable, or the effects of incessant and pervasive racism and/or poverty that have played out in front of our eyes through the media? Yet, many people do not go beyond lamenting. They do not take the steps necessary to change that which they lament. Perhaps they are overwhelmed with what feels like a society comprised of systems that cannot be changed or perhaps they are overwhelmed with a lack of knowledge about what to do, but regardless of the reason they simply give up before the battle has even begun. The scary thing is that society reinforces this lack of action and turning our back on hope to be the norm. It is easier to throw our hands in the air and tell ourselves and others that there is nothing we can do about whatever stands in our way. It certainly requires less effort and results in less repeated disappointment. Ironically, it is those individuals who have shunned society’s expectations and developed the tendency to cling to hope that have had the greatest impact on our world.
This has happened at a practical level. While there are certainly some down sides to advancements in technology, many of these advancements have revolutionized our world have resulted in individuals being able to lead longer, healthier, and happier lives. It took people with a vision, hope, persistence, and a willingness to take a leap of faith to accomplish this. I firmly believe that if someone had pronounced that smart phones or ipods would be a reality one day, they would have been proclaimed delusional.
More importantly, it is the willingness to fight what initially may have appeared to be a losing battle that has, in fact, made our society and our world increasingly human in the best of ways. Last week, I watched the news of the Supreme Court marriage decision with a heart swollen with love and pride. 50 years ago – hell, even 10 years ago-fighting for such a right would have seemed like folly, an effort with absolutely no chance of success. The same is true for many of the changes and evolutions that have most powerfully and positively impacted our world. This includes but is not limited to efforts such as the Civil Rights movement, granting women the right to vote, and the granting of certain freedoms to individuals. Thank god that there were people willing to embrace their humanness and risk being thought of as insane to pursue their dream of greater good.
The same can be said of dreams on a smaller scale. It is not difficult to find stories of individuals who held tight to their dreams and persisted in chasing them down and making them a reality even when it seemed that there was little to no possibility of a successful outcome. We’ve all heard the stories of how Walt Disney was fired from a newspaper for a “lack of imagination”; how Abraham Lincoln lost several elections in his early career, how his business failed, and how he was a considered a long shot for being elected as President; and how Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. There are hundreds of stories of successful individuals who refused to buy into the limitations that others imposed on them and instead went after and eventually achieved their dreams.
Perhaps most powerful is the determination we, as humans, have when it comes to not giving up on those we care about even when hope is seemingly eclipsed by what we consider to be harsh reality. In this regard, love is hope’s mate and mentor, and the two combined often have an unlimited ability to achieve the unachievable. I have heard countless stories of people on the brink of death and despite medical professionals informing the family (or the patient themselves) of a daunting yet seemingly inescapable outcome, they persevered in believing that miracles could occur and they did.
Some of the people I admire most are those friends and loved ones who have fought for me and for others when the outcome was at best murky and at worst grim. There’s the friend that fights everyday for his child who is severely autistic. Even though common belief (and sometimes, unfortunately, those he encounters) tells him that believing that things will improve for his child is akin to believing in unicorns and fairies, he has never, ever given up hope and I firmly believe that this has impacted his son in positive ways. There are the friends and family members who go to battle every day on behalf of vulnerable children, adults and seniors that it sometimes seems like the world has forgotten or thrown away. There are the friends who have lived through more horrific tragedies than any one person should have to experience in a thousand lifetimes and instead of letting these experiences make them cold and unfeeling, they have continued to hope and therefore have continued to love and give generously of their heart and their time with a capacity that is arguably far greater than that exhibited by those who have lived a more “normal” life.
I have fought for friends who seemed to be falling down their own rabbit hole of darkness and have thrown them hope as a life preserver when they couldn’t find anything to grab onto themselves. Sometimes this has worked, and sometimes it hasn’t but never have I regretted my efforts. Those for whom it worked have gone on to make this world a better place and help countless others who may have given up. There are those in my life who seemed to have had hope super glued to their heart when my prospects seemed dire and/or when I found myself scraping the bottom of the barrel in regards to my own optimism and coming up empty. I count my blessings every day for those who saw something in me that I couldn’t see and believed in what I felt at the time was an impossible possibility.
Many of us ponder whether humans are inherently evil or inherently good. I think the question itself is misleading and irrelevant. The truth, I believe, is that we are a little of both. We must have some inherit goodness in order to have accomplished all that we have. We must also have some inherent less than desirable qualities or else we would all be perfect and would never learn and grow. But good and evil are subjective, and they don’t act as an obvious hallmark of what it means to be human.
The more important question is whether or not we as a species are resilient enough to fight the battles that matter, even when we are fighting in the dark and/or eventual failure seems to be assured. Despite the fact that as a society we don’t celebrate this incredible quality, I think this type of resilience is a mark of what we are capable of and who we truly are. The very fact that some among us cultivate this ability and persist in hoping against all odds actually feeds an even greater hope that we as individuals and as a society can succeed, that we can grow, and that we are better, more powerful, and more amazingly beautiful than we often give ourselves credit for. It creates hope that perhaps the state that our world is currently in is not our natural state, and that a better future is possible.
So the next time someone…
Demeans your dreams
Tries to convince you to settle because a better outcome is not possible
Tells you that you are thinking too big
Insists that things will never change and that acceptance is your only option
Believes that there is no hope in sight and that someone-perhaps even themselves- is not worth fighting for (especially if both the person with this belief and the person whose value is in question is you)
Don’t believe them.
Hope is not a foolish gesture or a futile effort. Rather, it is the very thing that we must hold onto if we are ever going to grow. Hope can be found in the bleakest of situations if we know where to look, if we can remain open to possibilities, and if we are willing to listen to that song that is coming from within our soul.
So remember your humanness. Surrender to the “insanity” that hope offers and repaint the picture with the most vivid, most potent, and most beautiful colors that you can imagine. Persevere in reframing the story that you have been told. Sometimes what we perceive to be madness is heroic. And, sometimes, a little madness is the key to bringing us back from the wild to the civilization of our humanity and our souls.