Hope

I watched the second installment of the Hunger Games this evening.  It had a much deeper plot than the first one.  I don't even understand the mechanics of some of what happened, but the series clearly revolves around the theme of hope.   The basic premise is that hope overcomes fear, and that fear is what is used to oppress people.  Hope and fear are at opposite ends of the spectrum, but Hunger Games takes the position that hope's very existence overcomes fear.  So the government is trying to totally stamp out all sources of hope, so they can rule through fear.

People were willing to sacrifice their lives in order to spread that hope.  It happened repeatedly in the movie, and was directly discussed frequently.  I am used to the idea of males sacrificing their lives to protect females, and I assume that is a natural instinct.  I have trouble accepting the idea of the reverse happening, so I had trouble understanding the why, let alone the how, when the movie addressed that issue.  The movie is not subtle about the fact that the plot hinges entirely on hope.

The whole experience has caused me to examine what effect hope has on my life.  Certain things in my life have gone pretty much as I hoped they would, and I think it is safe to say that is a good thing.  But they are now things that I no longer have to hope for.  There are other things I have been hoping to see happen for a long time, and I see little positive progress towards those hopes being realized.

I feel like I am starting to lose hope for some of those things.  For example, in a generic sense, I hope to get married someday, preferably sooner rather than later.  But the specifics of how that might happen, or with whom, I have little vision for anymore.  Hope requires a degree of vision.  You have to be able to see or imagine what you are hoping for.  It is hard for me to even imagine a scenario that would lead to what I am hoping for occurring anytime soon, so it is hard to work towards the realization of that hope.  Being able to envision the future is the first step to bringing it about.  Envisioning a positive future is a source of hope, envisioning a negative future is a source of fear.   So in part due to the fact that I have a pretty clear vision of what I want my house and property to be like, I have made much progress recently in working to make that happen.  So I guess that is going as hoped.

Now there is hope and then there is Hope.  And I am not lacking in regards to the Hope, and that affects my hopes about the future past this current life, but there certain things that I still hope to experience before then.

In the same way that hope is shared in the movie, the Gospel can be shared with those who are oppressed.  And similar to the movie, that sharing sometimes happens at the expense of people's lives.  The negative things implied in the book of Revelation and in other prophesies can be a source of fear, which I find to blunt that hope more than it probably should, at least from my perspective.  So I don't find myself sharing that Hope as much as I probably could be.  And I hope to improve things in that regard.