“Hope” is the thing with feathers —

That perches in the soul —

And sings the tune without the words —

And never stops — at all —

by Emily Dickinson

Caribbean people are a people rooted in hope. Regardless of ancestral origin, hope courses through our veins. Hope lives in our DNA. We are hope personified and realized.

Regardless of ancestral origin 

Consider how we even got here. Our ancestors endured the brutality of slavery, weathered the passage of indentureship, and pushed through the uncertainty of migration in search of a better life than the one left behind.  Over centuries, slaves never gave up hoping for freedom and a better life. They endured everything that slavery threw at them, yet persisted. They lived in hope. Indentured labourers learnt the lesson that ‘the grass is not always greener on the other side’, the hard way. Many dreams of acquiring ‘all that glitters’ turned into dust along the way, but those that remained, persisted  and endured in the belief that things would get better. They lived in hope. Human nature is to seek comfort, and once found, to stay there. It takes a special kind of discomfort for a person to uproot themselves from everything and everyone they know, and move to a strange land, believing that a better life is possible. Though some came here by choice, not force, they too lived in hope.

It is time that we too, live in hope

It is fair to say that the collective events of the last twelve months have been quite unlike anything that we have ever had to endure before. The disruption, the sacrifice, the uncertainty, the hardship. The fear and anxiety. The grieving. Death. The frustration of not even knowing when it will all end has been more than we have ever had to bear. The solution of vaccines being presented to us has brought everything from anxiety and distrust, to fear, and intolerance. Make no mistake, these are the most difficult of times. Where will we find the inspiration to guide us through this impossible time to a better tomorrow? Perhaps the answer has been right with us all along, a gift from those who came before us. It is time that we too, draw upon hope.

The only constant in life is change

Nothing that we can imagine, nothing that we have experienced, nothing that we know of ever stays the same forever. Day turns into night, clear skies turn into rain, children grow up, people grow old. The only constant in life is change. The question for each of us living in this era of human history is to ask ourselves ‘will I endure long enough to see the change?’, or will I give up along the way, ignoring that wellspring of hope eternal that lives in all of us?

Our job today is to live with hope, in hope

2020 will one day be a distant memory. School children will study it in history class. We only need to survive through this. That day will come as surely as a new day comes after each night. Our job today is to live with hope, in hope. Hope of the end of this sickness, hope of economic prosperity, hope of better health for all. Hope for a return of many of the things that we lost.

We will get there, we must get there. Just as our ancestors once did, we too must continue to live in hope.