‘Where there’s life there’s hope.’ I hope the world becomes a better place void of hate

Since I have no hope of finishing the crossword puzzle that has me stumped, I figure I will look for hope somewhere else.

Though that might seem like a big chore. When you read the news these days it seems like hope is hard to find.

Hope is defined as the feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.

For example, we were hoping Thanksgiving dinner with our family would go nicely. Things looked rocky when we burned up the air fryer — the second one to die in this household. Even when I found out I had purchased the wrong food, we still had hope things would turn out good.

And they did. Turns out air fryers will still work even with a hole melted in the plastic bottom. Surely we will stop putting them on the smooth stove top surface and accidentally bumping a burner knob and only noticing when the smoke rises. We can only hope.

In the Second Century, Terence, a Roman African playwright, observed that “While there’s life there’s hope.”

So I hope the life in this world comes to its senses and produces a better world where children don’t have to die in a senseless war between grownups. It is so hard to read and watch the news when people insist on harming others and nonsensical ideas rally people to hate and destruction.

In the 17th Century John Ray, an English parson and naturalist, wrote, “If it were not for hope the heart would break,”

So maybe hope can keep our hearts whole.

In the 19th Century Henri Amiel, a Swiss philosopher and poet, wrote, “Hope is only the love of life.”

We have a wooden heart with the letters “HOPE” affixed to it. One day I noticed that the ”H” had fallen off, leaving me with ”OPE.” I located the fallen letter and restored our “HOPE.”

Then the “E” fell off leaving us with “HOP” until I hopped to it and re-glued that letter. I don’t think its an omen. I just think we got a heart with weak glue.

Dante wrote in “The Divine Comedy,” that above the gates of hell was inscribed, “All hope abandon, ye who enter here,” At least that is the original English translation from 1814 although sometimes it is put differently.

So hold onto your hope and try to stay out of hell.

As an old Mexican saying puts it, “Hope dies last.”

Let’s all hope on.