Roy’s Sunday Letter for April 26, 2026
About HOPE….How To Keep….Offer HOPE To Others
Lately, as I have talked and listened to friends and family, I heard and felt their general despair. This despair seems to be from reports on the news, decisions being made by the unqualified, random acts of violence and harm to the innocent. I also heard and felt an open need to Believe, to be encouraged by the decisions and acts of others, for having the goodness of our circle of friends and family affirmed.
Seeing and feeling Hope can be in the lighted candle, a speaker calling forth our best, or the “pay it forward” in a customer line. The reinforcement of a hopeful heart knowing when to limit the news of the day, seeking communications with trusted friends and social events of storytelling, laughter, and the sharing of the ups and downs of daily life seem to be some of the foundational parts of Hope.
Facing challenges with a weakened and unsure personal Hope can add to our sense of fear. That lack of Hope, for me, came as a young but also as an adult. Sometimes I was brave enough to tell someone or even asked for help. However, most of the time I did not…it probably was my ego getting in the way. I wish I had been more forth coming. Slowly, I learned a more open, trusting way of leadership and of being me. Sharing my experiences with others in similar situations with the Hope of strengthening that person’s life choices has been a real reward to my own sense of Hope.
I would like to offer four songs that support a Hopeful heart ad spirit. Two oldies and two newer, perhaps more familiar songs. “America The Beautiful”(1893} creates images of landscapes and fields valued then, lesser so today. Louis Armstrong recorded “What a Wonderful World” (1967) a decade of time in America of racial injustice, Vietnam and cities of unrest and anger. Armstrong remarked there was nothing bad about the world. We created our “bad” by acts of neglect or behavior against each other.
John Lennon wrote and released “Imagine” (1971). His visioning of a world of people living without hate and distrust, of living peacefully, of helping those both near and far to achieve their dreams and retaining a hopeful spirit. In the same time period, The Beatles released “With a Little Help from My Friends.” Their messaging of we all need the help of our friends to get by, to make it through, to be our true selves and true family pushes forward there is Hope in the power and goodness of togetherness. Still true today.
Dear reader, are you generally a Hopeful person? What sustains or drains away your Hope? What is one way you restore Hope within you? Have you found Hope in joining others in being Hopeful?
Roy, remembering those who shared their Hope with me.