Is hope a sustainer of human life?

[MistyFying]

This week my husband flew to Sydney to conduct the funeral of yet another one of his childhood friends.

She was the third to take her own life.

As he talked to the others at the wake, he made the observation that she had money, life experiences and adventure, friends, family, but those who knew her best said she had no "hope".

Like most of his friends from his younger days, she was heavily into hard drugs, but the other friends he talked to said the drugs were the remedy for the hopelessness.

I feel it's a tragedy that someone feels the solution to life is premature death. It got me thinking about hope.

I believe we're all born with "hope"... it's something we as humans have in our makeup. Life experiences can either help nurture or crush that hope. As we grow, we make choices that encourage or discourage the presence of hope in our lives.

So... I know we all need hope to really LIVE, but do we need hope to stay alive?

[christy]

Yes, overwhelmingly. My grandmother had a brain tumour, and during the operation for its removal, her brain stem was severed. She was left in a vegetative state, and yet she fought death. It was handed to her on a platter several times & everytime she pushed through it. We all said it was because she would never die before her husband, she was very jealous & would always accuse him of being attractive to other women. She passed away 1 month after my grandfather.

Hope... without it you loose the will to fight.

[fionas]

Yes, I definitely think so but I don't think "hope" is something that we're born with. I think it's developed through experience. If you have a bad experience and get through it then the next time it/something similar happens you're kind of equipped with the skills and the knowledge to believe that things will get better. To me, that's hope.

[Phteven]

I can't imagine how drab and dreary life would be without hope, it would mean essentially a life without dreams and plans - no vision of the future that was enticing or attractive.
At a lecture I went to once the guy delivering the lecture said that suicide rates were much higher in people with no faith. I find it hard to imagine a reality with no hope but even harder to imagine a reality with no hope and no faith. When something seems really awful my faith gives me comfort and provides me with hope - without either there would be nothing left to hold on to.

[Nelle]

I think so Christine...without hope, what are we living for?

I only just noticed something on re-reading your post - 'yet another of his childhood friends'. That must be really rough on him. I hope he's okay.

[MistyFying]

Thanks Nelle - he's doing ok. He just finds it so tragic when people get to the point where living is too hard. It's at those times he feels the distance... and the "what ifs".