Looming in these ‘dark times’ is death and despair, the threat to a ‘free way of life’ by the radicalized elements in the form of terrorism and also a stark truth that is staring humanity in the face is the threat of ‘inequality and injustice’, inequality in the form of uneven distribution of wealth and increasingly also opportunities of creating wealth, and injustice in the form of depriving the poor from their basic necessities of life. For every act of terror and spilling of civilian blood, people who have nothing to do with the scourges of war and terror and are leading just their lives in the face of seemingly insurmountable hardships and daily battles to fight, and who have nothing to do with such a divisive and blood spilling agenda, what do these people look forward to?

Here comes the value of hope in our lives and the power of positive anticipation. Hope is a virtue that is essential for the survival of the human spirit, especially in the testing times of the contemporary world. Hope is something on which the entire human edifice of the right to pursuit of happiness is resting. For it is believed by me that every man on this earth has a right to pursue his happiness, and for that whatever ways and means he choose keeping himself broadly limited in the societal framework of laws and regulation, such type of aspirations of man need expression in reality and should get manifested in the real world of ours.

It is on this premise that hope becomes one of the essential traits that man has cultivated in the form of both a defense mechanism to counter darkness and the blood spill, and also to build a surrounding world of himself where he and his loved ones don’t have to live lives of a constant fear of their lives, where he has a good occupation as a way and means to earn his bread and butter and also in making conditions favorable for his spiritual elevation so that he becomes one with the ‘self’.

So why has hope become something like a feeble entity and those who are leading lives in the hope that they would one day get to live in such a kind of world where all their aims and aspirations of a good life mentioned above would be met, are they living in a fool’s paradise? Has life become so ruthless, has life become so devoid of hope, has life become so full of pessimism that hoping for a better future has become like ‘trying to build a castle in thin air’? Why have the flames of hate and anger reduced to ashes the hopes of mankind of one earth that is compassionate and loving and equal?

Being an eternal optimistic, I always prefer that the ashes of hope that are considered to be a spend force nowadays rise like a phoenix and defeat all the evil forces that spread only darkness and despair. For hope is essential to the survival of man and his dreams. And that is where the power of hope and positive anticipation comes in. it is said that every dog has its day? When will our day come? When will man rise above the so called divisive forces that have divided our mother earth in the form of artificial borders and have created manmade barriers that have always served only the oppressors and the cruel? Man surely believes that his time will come, a everyone, while celebrating their diversity and cultural heritage also act in unison in face of threats that loom above all of us. For the sky is one and no man is an island, for the flames of war, terror and disease may be far from some countries now, but are we so isolated? No, the answer is not. We are all interconnected and the destiny of mankind is one. So when do we rise up all together as a force and act as one to defeat the threat posed by radicalism, disease, poverty and inequalities?

Hope is something to be cherished and to be cultivated in one and all and there should be a positive anticipation for a better future for one and all. For if we all live on one earth and the sky is one and our basic and common needs are fulfilled by the same sources, why do we need to sow the seeds of division and spread the poison of inequality and injustice and discrimination and racial tensions? Mankind should hope for a world and work towards a world that is free from the scourges of terror, where both the aims and aspirations of the individual and the common good converge in the form of a positive energy that elevates one and all to a higher consciousness that helps us in being kind, compassionate and embracing the values of honesty, truth and wellbeing of all.

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