The Way I See It
By Joseph C. Phillips

Revisiting Hope

In the four years I have been writing this column, I have been taken to the woodshed on more than one occasion. I suppose I've grown used to it. Honestly, though, I never expected to be scolded for believing in hope.

A few weeks ago, I told the story of a thirteen-year-old girl suffering from stress and exhaustion. The girl misses school because she is often called upon to take care of her younger siblings as her mother has psychological problems. In the column I wrote: “ Young people like this eighth grade girl must have faith that the hand of God will move in their lives, however, they also need hope in the form of human hands that will reach to offer them council and support.”

For this observation, I received emails calling me naïve and cursing me as not worth the time of day. One email in particular took me to task for being so wedded to my conservative ideals that my mind was closed. It is unclear to me what conservative ideals have to do with what I wrote. I suspect t he admonition was born from a belief that our problems are not of our own making, and we are then equally powerless to change our circumstances or those of people around us. Admittedly, I tend to veer away from the progressive notion that problems of poverty and want are created by evil capitalist institutions and the solution, therefore, is the dismantling of those institutions and the creation of new ones, which will in turn lead to a morally legitimate America. Let's title that Marxism 101.

In an odd bit of moral gymnastics, it was my stated belief that solutions are to be found not in the halls of government but in the hearts of men that made my “conservative ideals” fodder for ridicule and my compassion and humanity fair game during a discussion of hope.

I do not define hope as merely an expectation of good things to come. As some biblical scholars have put it, hope is “something more akin to the character of God.” The essence of Judeo -Christian hope is fellowship with our creator. It is agape – a quality of love that transcends race, economics and party affiliation. To speak of hope is not the refrain of the eternal optimist. Rather it is the assurance that fellowship with God moves men to compassion, charity and justice.

This is not to suggest that there is no role for government. Indeed, government has a responsibility to protect the innocent. Government, however, can never be a true source of hope because government is soulless, without feeling and without the capacity for love or compassion. For those suffering hardship, real transformative power comes in the form of individual men and women motivated by Christian love to help shoulder their burden.

Hope in the form of human hands is mentoring programs, the Boys and Girls' clubs and Big Brothers/Big Sisters' programs. It is groups that minister to the elderly in nursing homes or feed the homeless. It is the countless other charitable organizations and volunteers that provide dollars, strong backs and compassionate hearts.

It occurs to me that I may not have stated this clearly in my previous column. I accept that as the cost of writing a weekly column and I promise to try and do better. However, to the charge of naiveté, I plead not guilty. It is not naive to believe in man's capacity for charity or to trust that the recognition of our common humanity moves men to act from their better natures. Neither is it a conservative ideal that God lives in each and every one of us and that he will often work miracles through the labor of angels without wings.

Send me your ways of seeing it at Josephcp@netlistings.com