HOPE - The Elixir of Life? (Day 52 - September 12, 2011)

I suffer from generalized anxiety disorder.  I have all of my life.  What is it?  The definition according to the Anxiety Disorders Association of Canada is "a condition whereby you experience chronic and debilitating anxiety and/or worry."  It is very common . . . affecting 1 in 10 people.  My definition is a little different - it's when regular everyday things can cause irrational worries and a general feeling of the life being sucked out of you while descending towards your own doom.  And, it affects 1 in 1 of me.

Why do I bring this up?  First of all, I recognize that the daily wear and tear I am experiencing being without the comforts of home (which is still far easier than being actually homeless) is causing more episodes of anxiety for me.  Thankfully, I've learned how to deal with these attacks, and am able to handle them quite well now.  What once might have knocked me on my butt for days, now can be completely dealt with in a few hours or even minutes.  Secondly, it is very common amongst the general population (including stars, political leaders, your co-workers, your family . . . ), but disproportionately higher amongst those living on the streets.  This is partially because life on the street is exceptionally difficult, but also because a lot of regular people end up on the streets due to mental health issues.  Had it not been for my family's support, I could very well have ended up on the street a few times in my life when my anxiety had depleted my systems so badly that I fell into debilitating depressions and couldn't work for months on end.  Gratefully, due to the professional help I've received those episodes are hopefully all in my rear view mirror, but when I see people with nothing and on the street I see what could have easily been me.

But the most important reason I bring it up is because of a little magical device known a HOPE.  Hope is something that gives someone power to hold on when they want to let go, to stay the course when they want to quit, and to persevere despite terrible conditions.  For me, with my anxiety, I have found HOPE to be one of the greatest tools at my disposal.  I keep an arsenal of things in which I have HOPE at the ready to harpoon whatever worry comes along.  Unfortunately, for many who are suffering in poverty they feel utterly hopeless.  Therefore, whether working with people on the street, or the impoverished in Asia, or displaced people in Africa, or anybody suffering from lack . . . one of the most amazing things you can do for them is give them a little dose of HOPE.

I remember sitting with a friend in Sierra Leone, West Africa in 2000.  The country was at the back end of a decade long internal conflict that saw the entire population traumatized by unspeakable atrocities, domestic mayhem, and massive displacement.  I expressed despair to my friend at how big the problem was, and how the current assistance by international NGO's was just scratching the surface.  I'll remember what he told me for the rest of my life . . .

"Nonsense!  You have given us the greatest gift of all . . . HOPE! 

When we were in our darkest days it was like our country was afloat all alone in the

middle of the ocean and we wondered if anybody knew about us, if anybody cared. 

Sure, we'll have to do most of the healing ourselves, but having the international

community get involved gives us HOPE.  We are not alone, we are worthy of help,

and that gives us the strength to go on."

Another experience comes to mind about how HOPE allows a people to progress and develop their community.  It was also about 10 years ago when I was in Guatemala on a monitoring trip for CAUSE Canada.  I visited a new community in which the organization was just starting, and on a tour of the town my interpreter and I came across a women working at a weaving apparatus.  I remember that she was very shy and her hands moved like lighting as she weaved the most beautifully coloured blanket.  Through the interpreter I found out that she worked at the machine for 12 - 14 hours per day just to make enough to feed her family.  The woman didn't smile much and so I tried to coax a smile by asking, through the interpreter, if she had a dream.  The interpreter asked the question, and then apparently asked again.  I was then told that not only doesn't she have a dream, but she has no idea what a dream is!  No hope, no future, no dreams . . . a sad existence.  Fortunately, through women's empowerment and micro-finance programs offered to her community, that woman was able to access training and assistance that allowed her to improve her lot in life and be able to think about the future.

Can you give someone HOPE?  Perhaps it is spending time with a person - the elderly, a young person with a troubled family life, or a person on the street.  Perhaps it is by giving a warm smile to someone in need to remind them they are worthy of being smiled at, and not invisible . . . not afloat alone in the middle of the ocean.  Perhaps it is advocating for more humanitarian assistance . . . or giving a regular donation to a worthy cause . . . or volunteering.  There is no greater investment, regardless of the cost, than sparking hope in someone's life.



Hey!! I'm That Poverty Guy . . . let's make a world of difference together.

Click Here to See WACHOOKANDU.