To Trudge and to Hope

Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Evening, and Goodnight.

Today I'd like to talk about something that is very meaningful to me and often times overlooked in this day and age considering the luxuries that we all have and take for granted. Have you ever been in a circumstance where you have nothing left? Perhaps a situation of such immense emotional pain that you feel completely hopeless and that your existence is non-consequential to anything around you. These experiences are the ones that truly define us as humans and are crucial to the development of character. There's a lot there that I could discuss, but today I want to talk about the emotional endurance it takes to Trudge against the wind and have Hope that the storms will pass.

hope

   [hohp]  Show IPA noun, verb, hoped, hop·ing.

noun

1.

the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that eventswill turn out for the best: to give up hope.

This is the part where I argue with the dictionary using itself as evidence for my claims. HOPE IS NOT A FEELING. You can feel anger, sadness, happiness, horny, and inferior. You cannot "feel" hope. A feeling is something you can be. You can be angry, sad, happy, horny, and inferior. You cannot "be" hope. Hope is not a feeling.

feel·ing

   [fee-ling]  Show IPA

noun

1.

the function or the power of perceiving by touch.

2.

physical sensation not connected with sight, hearing, taste,or smell.

3.

a particular sensation of this kind: a feeling of warmth; afeeling of pain.

4.

the general state of consciousness considered independentlyof particular sensations, thoughts, etc.

5.

a consciousness or vague awareness: a feeling of inferiority.

How is how hope a state of consciousness at all? You can be warm, you can be in pain. You cannot be hope you cannot be in hope. Hope is not a feeling. One might argue that you can feel hopeful, and that is true, but despite the fact that hopeful and having hope mean essentially the same thing, they are, in fact NOT the same thing. Being full of hope means that you have hope and you are full of it again implying that hope is a thing which leads me to my next point.



What hope IS, is a thing. You can have it. You cannot have anger or happiness or sadness. You cannot have inferiority or horniness. Horniness isn't even a word. You can, however, have hope. You can take it anywhere with you, you can hold it in your heart, you can roll it around in your mind, you can figuratively keep it in your pocket, but you cannot feel it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hope_Summers_(comics)


You can feel feelings, but hope, hope is an effect of feeling a feeling. One might feel sadness because their loved one is ill and hope that they get better soon. One might be angry because they were betrayed and hope bad things upon someone. One might feel lonely and hope that someone rescues them from their loneliness. As you can see, hope is in response to an emotion. Which brings me to my final and most important point about hope.


Hope is an ACTION. You do it. You run, you sleep, you jump, you breath, you play, you hope. You can do it. You can hope. Hope is not some uncontrolled instinctive behavior that is bestowed upon you by hormones or inspiration from "God". Hope is something that if you want it, you have it. It's like the more softhearted brother of determination. Anyone can have it, all they have to do is want it, do it, create it, and have it.

trudge

   [truhj]  Show IPA verb, trudged, trudg·ing,noun

verb (used without object)

1.

to walk, especially laboriously or wearily: to trudge up a longflight of steps.

The ability to trudge is something that we all have. Even those who are physically handicapped have managed to find ways to move forward despite adversity. There's a great moment in the movie "a Knight's Tale" where Chaucer describes Trudging. "Uh... trudging. You know, trudging? [pause] To trudge: the slow, weary, depressing yet determined walk of a man who has nothing left in life except the impulse to simply soldier on."



Forward momentum is part of human nature. It gives the mind a sense of progression and accomplishment. As long as you are always going somewhere, you never feel like you're getting no where. It is my opinion that this is a psychological must in order to develop a proper sense of self-worth which leads to self-confidence and a positive self-image.

I bring this up because in emotionally strenuous circumstances it becomes more and more difficult to maintain self-worth. In our struggles to avoid the stress we find ourselves grasping at any sort of aide to give us that sense of self-worth. We want immediate solves for our conditions so we turn to friends, family, drugs, alcohol, and other chemical additives, religion, government, sex or anything else we can possibly draw an immediate sense of accomplishment from. It's natural to reach out, but not completely necessary.

Reaching out to alternatives like these can be dangerous. In the instance of family and friends you might drag them down with you if they are not strong enough to support you both, or worse yet, you might push them away or, in the case that they are strong enough to support both of you, you might become 99% dependant on them for your own progression. In the case of chemical additives there are, again, severe dependency issues as well as, in many cases, health risks.

Some day soon I will be covering my thoughts on dependence verses independence but for now I will simply say that it is important to find a balance between the two and be able to respect each accordingly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_churchill

In the event that you truly have nothing to lean on; no chemicals, no family, no government, you might have your spirituality but there are even some times when you do not have religion. In these times it is important that you rely on two things that you always have. Hope, and the ability to Trudge. I should also include the term Faith, because it goes hand in hand with Hope, but for now we'll jsut leave it as an assumed. As long as your body has the physical ability to move forward, then you can have, despite it being minor, a positive sense of forward momentum. From there all you need is Hope and Faith that you will get somewhere as long as you keep moving.


I can personally testify that you will get somewhere. Jsut remember that there is always hope, and never stop trying. All you really need is yourself. You can believe that.

Remember, enjoy the full moon. Not all of us can. <3