Choose Hope Today

Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear.  If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.
—    Thich Nhat Hahn
May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.
—    Nelson Mandela
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On This Day In:
2021	What Will You Become?
	Life’s Illusions
2020	Rules Of Morality
	Tempting Fate
2019	Good People On Both Sides?
2018	Schedule, Please
2017	No Hope For #DumbDonald
2016	Do Something
2015	What Are You Making Now?
2014	Like Fire Burning In My Heart
2013	Oh Yes He Can!
2012	Enquiries
2011	The Prize: Understanding
2010	Can You Tell My Scanner Works?
	Rebecca – The Early Years
	James – The Early Years
	Brothers By Another Mother

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Back To First Principles

It is really wonderful how much resilience there is in human nature.  Let any obstructing cause, no matter what, be removed in any way, even by death, and we fly back to first principles of hope and enjoyment.
—     Bram Stoker
From his book:  “Dracula“
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On This Day In:
2021	Full Value Division
	EWF On Ice
	Strung Along
2020	The Responsibility Side Is On The Right
	Where Clear Winds Blow
2019	Define Your Life…
2018	It Is No Secret
	Day 25: When 4 or 5 equals 2
2017	Cowardly Defamation
2016	With No Allowance For Chance?
2015	Details
2014	Here’s One…
2013	Non-Fungible Commodities
2012	Hope And Tears
2011	Just Long Enough
	Meaningful Thoughts

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Under Its Roof

The very least you can do in your life is figure out what you hope for.  And the most you can do is live inside that hope.  Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof.
—     Barbara Kingsolver
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On This Day In:
2021	Bringing It
	All Your Sighs
2020	Me Neither
2019	Have Forever
2018	Fear, Racism And Greed
	Reaching Out To The Missing
	Very Nearly
2017	We Can Figure This Out
2016	Just Enough
2015	Bourne Bond
	Springs Eternal
2014	Brains First
2013	Not Listening Anymore
2012	At Your Marks!
2011	We Are Not Alone
	Underlying Rationality
2010	Is the Obama Administration Failing?
	In Other Words…
	Quite Please!
	In A Hostage Situation…
	Are We Done Yet?
	In Order…
	Flip-flopping…
	Proof of Choice…
	On “Leading” A Democracy To War…
	Actually, It’s All About Me…

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I Remember…

Remember.  Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.
—     Stephen King
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On This Day In:
2021	Biden Won By Almost 7 Million Votes
	Waiting Outside My Door
2020	The Tragedy Of Trump Republicanism
2019	What Do Your Children See You Doing?
2018	Is #45 STILL Losing America
2017	We Sleep To Remember And We Sleep To Forget
2016	Useful Gift
2015	Who’s The Boss?
2014	What Counts In The Future
2013	Improper Sequence?
2012	Two Gems
2011	A True Test

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Is Normal Just Routine?

I would say that I don’t know how we got through that first shaky week of this third pandemic-impacted school year, hugging our kids and checking to make sure their masks were secure before they left each morning, except that I do know:  We had no choice.  We still don’t.  Though we’re grateful to their teachers and glad that our kids are once again learning alongside their peers, the worry persists, an undercurrent to which we’ve been forced to adapt as we settle into routines both familiar and new.
Each week brings more pediatric infections, more student quarantines.  Each day, I’m conscious of the fact that I’m allowing my children to assume a risk from which I, working at home, am protected, and this feels hopelessly backward.  I read every update to the school COVID-19 guidelines so I know what to expect after the inevitable exposure, but I can’t tell my kids what they have long wanted to know:  When will things go back to the way they remember?
…
Over the past 18 months, a common refrain has been that this pandemic should compel all of us to recognize our interdependence, the inescapable fact that we will not address this or any of the other grave threats we’re facing without collective action.  This is a lesson that I expect many of our children are also learning, though the cost and the danger to them feels too high.  I know I don’t want my kids to conclude that they are or forever will be powerless, or that there is no one who will fight with and for them.  There are many things I still have to hope for to get through each day, and while our children’s survival and health top the list, I also want them to retain their faith in themselves and in their ability to look forward to something better than this — to find, as they so often do, their own reasons to hope.
—     Nicole Chung
From:  “The View Essay: Parenting – Did I point my kids to the wrong North Star?” Appearing in:  Time Magazine;  11/18 Oct 2021
Also online at:  https://time.com/6102019/covid-19-hope-for-kids/
The online version appears as:  “There’s No End in Sight for COVID-19. What Do We Tell Our Kids Now?“
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On This Day In:
2021	The Rush Is On
	Another Rerun
2020	It Is Still About Sharing And Cheering
2019	Sounds Like #LyingDonald
2018	Start Building
2017	Woof! Woof!
2016	Cast Out
2015	Small Pieces
	Happy Father’s Day!
2014	Uncertain Work
2013	Unpatriotic And Servile
2012	What Price Freedom?
2011	Particular Importance
	Three From Bette…

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Prayers For Mariupol

There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something tomorrow.
—    Orison Swett Marden
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On This Day In:
2021	Assumptions Are Fatal In Science
	Starting To Look Back
2020	Down On Earth
2019	Are You Moving?
2018	We Can Only Pray
2017	Heavier At That End
2016	The Difference Is Craftsmanship
2015	However Vast The Darkness
2014	The Omnipresent Teacher
2013	Don’t Waste
2012	Earning Thanks
2011	Fuzzy Vision
2010	Movies and Book

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The Grand Essentials

The grand essentials of happiness are:  something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.
—     Allan Chalmers
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On This Day In:
2021	Adding Spice
	Be Who You Must
2020	Mo, Cilla, Mushy Peas And Rain
	No New Wars
2019	An Epitaph For #45 (#LyingDonald)
2018	Before And After
2017	Verbs
2016	Not Too Tidy
2015	Little Understanding
2014	Open Early
2013	Movies And A Lifetime Of Lyrics
	This Truth
2012	Cheaper To Hold
2011	Resistance Is Futile
	One Great, One Enjoyable, One Terrible…
	Unfortunately, No Approval Is Required

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And Do The Right Thing…

Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and do the right thing, the dawn will come.
—     Anne Lamott
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On This Day In:
2021	Rational Response
	This Can’t Go On
2020	A Different Premise
2019	Can Too
2018	To Get Strength
	Drip, Drip, Drip
2017	Bricolage Art
2016	Just A Shame
2015	Treasures Of The Mind
2014	Not Quite Exceeded Reach
2013	Who’s Side?
2012	Why I Joined The Army And Not The Navy…
2011	Is It Your Turn Yet?
	Just Trippin’

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There Is No Fate But What You Make

The future of civilization depends on our overcoming the meaningless and hopelessness that characterizes the thoughts of men today.
—     Albert Schweitzer
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On This Day In:
2021	The Silent Word
	Touched My Hand
2020	Releasing Their Fears
2019	17 Days Until The Next Government Shutdown
2018	Disciplined Models
2017	We Cannot Afford Enemies
2016	Love Is Just A State Of Mind
2015	Waiting?
2014	Big C, Little B (II)
	Where God Has Not
2013	Chasing His Dragon
	Shaped And Molded
2012	Believe In Yourself
2011	Cultural Equivalence
	Why Not?
	Books About Books
	The Basis For Adult Continuing Education

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Choose Possible

Once you choose hope, anything is possible.
—    Christopher Reeve
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On This Day In:
2021	Thousands
	Where Did All The Blue Skies Go?
2020	A Profound Source
2019	Sad Words
2018	Self-Sorted
2017	Right
2016	At Least One Step
2015	Month To Month Rental
2014	Professional Beliefs
2013	Books Are…
2012	True Distinguishing Marks
2010	Sub-300

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Eye On The Prize

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.
—   Martin Luther King, Jr.
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On This Day In:
2020	And Most Adults Don’t Either
	And It Burns, Burns, Burns
	Just Dessert
2019	Happy Thanksgiving (2019)
2018	And Smiles…
2017	Or Savor A Little Longer…
2016	Sometimes I Just Want To Smell The Flowers
2015	One Truth – Done Well
2014	Now In Imagination, On The Other Hand…
2013	No Plan, No Map
2012	Singing About Love
2011	The Awesome Power Of Truth

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Why I Play The Lottery

Expecting something for nothing is the most popular form of hope.
—     Arnold H. Glasow
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On This Day In:
2020	#45 In A Nutshell
	Old Man Wishin’…
2019	Three Down, Three To Go
2018	Too Significant
2017	Shadows
2016	Still Blurry
2015	For Awhile Anyway
2014	By Contrast
2013	A Very Long Time…
2012	Raise And Support
2011	Naturally
2010	A Quick Sunday Morning Read
	Giants Win Game 4 In Shutout 4 to 0!!!

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Surrender With Hope

Don’t despair:  despair suggests you are in total control and know what is coming.  You don’t – surrender to events with hope.
—    Alain de Botton
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On This Day In:
2020	Two Midway
	Invisible Hands
2019	Speaking Of #45
2018	A Higher Loyalty
	RIP – Our Silver Lady
2017	Slowly Cutting Their Own Throats
2016	Man’s Advantage Over God
2015	Deeply
2014	Hi-Yo Silver, Away!
2013	Warning:
2012	Thinking About Beauty
2011	A Founding Father’s Argument Against Public Funding Of Religious Education
	Weekend Update
	So Far, So Good

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Maybe Faith Is Based On Hope

Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism.  It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.
—    Václev Havel
[Happy Birthday, Mom!
You raised me with optimism, hope and faith…  Love, Kevin]
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On This Day In:
2020	Thank You (To Those Who Serve)
	Hanging In There
2019	Her Job, Too
2018	Just Another Song I Like
	Earlier Still
2017	Ten To Go
2016	Unstable Emergence
2015	88
2014	Some One-Liners Are Too Easy
2013	Greatness
2012	Memories Of Arlington
2011	Wake Up

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I Hope Not

As long as matters are really hopeful, hope is a mere flattery or platitude.  It is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a strength at all.  Like all the Christian virtues, it is as unreasonable as it is indispensable.
—    Gilbert K. Chesterton
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On This Day In:
2020	Organized Skepticism
2019	An Interest In Life
2018	Two: A Current President With Both
2017	Watch This Space
2016	Beyond The Foundation
2015	Become An Affliction
2014	Just Setting Out
2013	Scott’s Inscription
2012	Good Knowledge
2011	Social Safety Nets

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