On October 27, eleven people were killed while praying during Shabbat morning services in Pittsburgh. It was a tragic event, and as happens with all events like these there was an outpouring of support towards the Tree of Life Congregation, all giving their thoughts, prayers, and hope.
Over the summer, five people were killed in the offices of The Capital in Annapolis, MD. Again, people sent their thoughts, prayers, and hope.
Then there was Parkland, Las Vegas, Newtown, and too many more before. Each one of those was followed with the exact same thoughts, prayers, and calls for hope.
Everyone always says “Thoughts and prayers aren’t enough,” and they aren’t wrong. But why must hope only seem to come up in times of tragedy? It’s always when something negative happens that we talk about having hope and for things to get better. And I get it, hope is especially needed when we come upon those times, but why can’t we just always have hope? Webster’s Dictionary defines “hope” as a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen. And in times of tragedy, we certainly desire for things to happen, for them to get better. But we can always want things to happen; we shouldn’t have to be hurting to have hope.
I want us to try and have hope always, not just when we hurt. I want us as a nation to try and always have a sense of positivity and look towards better, brighter times. We should always embrace each other with love, kindness and be there for each other. Hope doesn’t come from hurt, it comes from love.