NEVER HOPELESS

The only thing that evil and failure needs to succeed is for good people to do nothing and hope to be lost in the noise of life.

Hope isn’t some passive thing that we hold onto like air when we have nothing else. Hope moves us forward so that evil and failure never have a chance to overtake that which must never be overtaken. Hope is action. Hope is movement. It’s a belief that things will be better. Today’s a good day. I may not feel like it, but I’m stronger today than I was yesterday and tomorrow, no matter what it brings, will be better than today. I am a champion. I am not a failure and I am not what others say I am.

Let me briefly tell you a story about Adam. Adam was a tailor on the military installation in Grafenwoehr Germany. When I served there back in the 1980’s I would visit with Adam as he sewed soldiers uniforms and he shared stories from the past that probably seemed like just yesterday. He told about how he had been captured by the Nazi’s during the second world war and was tatooed with a number on his forearm which he showed to me. I looked at that number knowing that a Nazi had tatooed those numbers on his arm many years ago and there were just as clear today as they were then. So too were the memories in Adams mind.

He told me stories about how he had to survive and although he was scheduled for execution, he worked mending clothing during his captivity because of the Hope that was within him. He believed. He had no reason to believe that things would be different. HE WAS SCHEDULED FOR EXECUTION! Do you get that? He was going to die within days! But he worked anyway. He pressed on as if things were going to be different. He fixed hems. He darned socks. He resewed collars. He made people who were about to die feel better in the second, third, fourth hand clothes that they had been given. They were probably wearing clothing of people who had been killed perhaps only hours before they stepped off a train in their new camp. Their camp of death.

Adam lost almost everything during his time with the Nazi’s. But he never let them take his Hope. Then, as it approached the eleventh hour so-to-speak, the Americans arrived, the battle was fought, and Adam was saved along with the others who were about to die. Adam never forgot that.

Adam remained on the installation using his talents for the next 60 years. THAT is thankfulness. His room on post, in the military police barracks, was lined with photographs of generals and privates alike. I believe there was even a picture of retired Army General Tommy Franks.

Adam held onto his Hope even when there was no reason to hold on. He expressed his appreciation for the next 60 years. I’ve seen the tatoo, I’ve heard the memories and I’ve seen the mans eyes. He was a man of hope. Whether you believe it or not, that kind of hope is within you too. It’s there. Don’t believe that evil and failure is the only option. Do something. Even if there doesn’t seem like there is any reason to do it. Hang in there. Don’t give it a chance to win. We have a choice.