Hope is not a strategy they said. Taken from the context of some very high level business meetings where someone was trying to get their customer, dealer, vendor, whoever to respond to an incentive, process, threat, whatever. Yeah hope is definitely not a strategy in business. Hope is more a component.
Hope is truly a component of a life well lived. For me it’s one of the four H’s; hope, humor, hustle and hide. None of these components can really stand on their own, none of them is self-sustaining. They need a little somthin somethin on the side to be effective.
As a literary device hope is a key concept in many classic and contemporary fictional works. It can be used as a plot device and is often a motivating force for change in dynamic characters. But even here you can clearly see it is only a concept there is nothing concrete happening unless…somethin.
Doesn’t mean I don’t love the phrase. I loved it the minute I heard it. It’s one of those stop in your tracks phrases that remind you every time you use a word like hope to look a little further.
One of the symbols of hope is the Swallow in Aesop fables and numerous other historic literature. It symbolizes hope, in part because it is among the first birds to appear at the end of winter and the start of spring
Spring actually begins for me on April 1st. I’m not good in March, it holds too much blah blah for me. Too much what if and too much sorrow for me to welcome Spring on its actual arrival date. So on April 1st I hoped somethin would bring some welcome relief from this very hard winter.
Through dinner with friends, good news from friends and even better weather than expected my hope was fulfilling itself nicely. The emergence of my garden always fulfills my hope for welcome relief. There is always that one day that the sun and my energy converge and begin the process of cleaning out the back garden, hanging the rug over the railing and giving it a good beating, uncovering the tiny little poke-throughs that just can’t help coming up before the hard frost fear is over.
This weekend brought me sunshine and wind to blow the leaves all the way to the edge of the enchanted forest. It brought rug beating with no choking or sneezing thanks again to the wind. It brought out mineral oil for the wood furniture and cushions, if only temporarily.
It brought the first pansies to the garden centers and dirt under my fingernails. It brought the end of the indoor farmers market and the anticipation of the outdoor market with its strawberries and asparagus and peas.
So while hope is not a strategy, on this weekend, it was a call to move, walk, beat, scrub, to welcome Spring and continue to hope for more.
