THIS TERRIBLE BEAUTIFUL THING CALLED HOPE

I just watched this movie – “The Great Gatsby” where the main character was hailed as the most “Hopeful” person the narrator had met. I guess that was high praise. With all the things that can go wrong while existing on planet earth, it’s so easy to get despondent. To despair and fall into a major depression, due to the constant dread of impending doom. (Hmn… why are there so many dreary words that begin with the letter D?! Join the fun, share some of your own words in the comment section). Hope becomes very important to succeed.

Being a Nigerian and living in Nigeria requires that you have high doses of this thing called Hope. You cook and fill the fridge with food to last a month with the ‘Hope’ that Power supply will cooperate to ensure that the food doesn’t go bad. You wake up in the morning and turn the taps with the ‘Hope’ that water board hasn’t gone on the blink again. You get stopped by a traffic warden, and you ‘Hope’ he would be satisfied with a smile and would just let you go after his check of your papers, fire extinguisher and waste basket has ALL CHECKED OUT!

Hope in love, though, is a whole different ball game all together. Gatsby is a great example for hope in love. He fell in love with a moneyed golden girl, who desperately loved him too, but didn’t love his penniless state at all. So she ‘falls in love’ with old money embodied in a brute. Gatsby doesn’t give up hope. He made the money, came back to recapture her heart and win her hand. Relentlessly hoping that he’d succeed. Won’t spoil it for those who decide to watch it. I’ll just say it’s worth watching.

Hope for women is brutal. We rest so much on it, and get so disappointed. We all know the examples. We Hope that he’s changed, and that its just innocent flirtation. We Hope that he meant it when he said he’d never lose his temper that way again. We Hope that he’d be more responsible, be more around, be more involved. We Hope that he’s the One. We Hope.

Then one day, when time has irrevocably passed, we realise that the beautiful pieces of glass shattered at our feet, which we’ve been prancing on, ignoring (or doing our best to ignore) the stinging pain from our feet, is actually our hopes, with the following lost opportunities we sacrificed. 

This terrible beautiful thing called hope…

Living life like its golden.

D2AGE