Words of hope can save our lives. They can make quarantine and this complex situation a good time to live. Concretely, now.
Emily Dickinson wrote that “I know nothing in the world that has as much power as speech. Sometimes I write one, and watch it, until it starts to shine. " Because the word creates. And what we live is the fruit of the words we use.
We are in every moment at a crossroads: on the one hand there is fear, on the other there is hope. And if we listen to the words that come to us from the antiquity of Seneca we know which way to go: “even if fear will have more and more arguments, you choose hope”. Also because “nothing will prevent the sun from rising again, not even on the darkest night. Because beyond the black curtain of the night there is a dawn waiting for us ”. And Khalil Gibran said it.
And it is not indifferent what we choose. “Act as if what you do makes a difference. He does it, ”William James tells us.
There are people who have let words of despair crowd their quarantine. They chose not to hope. They chose to be afraid. They should have seen the movie “The Wings of Freedom” and heard the words echo: “Fear can take you prisoner. Hope can set you free ”. And they would choose freedom.
If you feel hesitant, not convinced, not ready to hope, read Hemingway: “The rain will stop, the night will end, the pain will vanish. Hope is never so lost that it cannot be found ”.
But even if you have been defeated in this battle for optimism, don't worry and keep fighting. Winston Churchill reassures us: “Never, never, never give up”. And in the end he defeated Hitler.
And then let's remember that every challenge, every difficulty is an opportunity. "When everything seems to be going wrong, remember that planes take off against the wind, not with the wind in their favor." And if Henry Ford says so (yes, that of Ford) there will be something true.
Let's listen to the words, immortal, of Pablo Neruda and learn to hope: “They will be able to cut off all the flowers, but they will not be able to stop spring”.
And let's take Ralph Waldo Emerson's invitation literally: "Write on your heart that every day is the best day of the year." Even in quarantine.
And so words of hope will have saved our lives.
