GIVING SPACE FOR HOPE

THE HEART OF HAPPINESS 

- PAUL SUTHERLAND

 

DURING A commuter airplane chat with a South African businessman, the current problems in the world—and the specific problems in South Africa— came up, and the businessman paused and looked me straight in the face to be sure I was paying attention, and said, “I feel hopeless.” He looked at his hands. “I pass the townships and see the poor on the streets and wonder why the government doesn’t do anything.”

“Why don’t you do something?” I asked.

“What can I do? I am one person.”

I shrugged. But my mind raced to the one-persons like Nelson Mandela, Joan of Arc, and Malala Yousafzai, as well as the hundreds of people I have met who are humbly dedicated to being compassionately useful in the world. I didn’t mention these thoughts to him. I didn’t jump in and say he is wrong to be hopeless. I gave space to his hopelessness. But I think hopelessness can be a mask for indifference and apathy. Saying “it’s hopeless” is a great justification for doing nothing. Meanwhile, the hopeless problems causing his melancholy actually give me purpose. A surgeon is not excited that her patient is suffering—she is excited to know she can help. 

 He changed the subject with a question: “What do you do?”