Last year I read an inspiring book by Jerome Groopman entitled The Anatomy of Hope. He says:
     Hope , unlike optimism, is rooted in unalloyed reality . . . Hope is the
    elevating feeling we experience when we see – in the mind’s eye –
    a path to a better future.
He goes on to talk about the importance of faith and hope in the recovery from disease, and outlines the difference between hope, false hope, and faith. It’s a wonderful book.

I’ve had reason to think about hope again this summer. First, Sarah’s boyfriend talked to a elderly Palestinian this summer while he was living in Israel. The man said he had no hope for himself, his children, or his grandchildren. His comments have not been far from my mind since I read them. You can read Adam’s whole entry here.

Then our book group read Thomas Friedman’s book The World is Flat. Friedman quotes a Chinese government official who said, “When people have hope, you have a middle class.” (p. 375) Friedman goes on to say that the world will never truly be flat for people who have no hope. “The bad news is . . there are hundred of millions of people who have no hope and therefore no chance of making it into the middle class. They have no hope for two reasons:  Either they are too sick, or their local governments are too broken for them to believe they have a pathway forward.” (p. 376)

Finally, I just finished reading Tracy Kidder’s inspiring Mountains Beyond Mountains that tells the story of Paul Farmer and how he has single-handedly made a huge difference for many third world people too sick to have hope. It occurred to me that although their health was certainly the greatest cure, having hope restored is close behind.

I am a constant worrier. When Matt was having lots of difficulties in high school, his counselor cautioned me not to “catastrophize” every little event. I was (and am) capable of envisioning the worst possible outcomes for every incident. I learned to work hard not to allow myself these negative thoughts. But throughout it all, I never lost hope that things could get better. If I try to personalize a loss of hope, I cannot. It’s hard not to come to the conclusion that the functioning governments of the world are not putting their resources where they can truly make a difference. Paul Farmer’s efforts have been fruitful; the war in Iraq has certainly not instilled hope in the Iraqis. Where is the money better spent?

I belong to a great book group – four couples. Some of us have been together in this group since 1990. Occasionally we take a field trip. Our biggest one was to Buffalo after reading Lauren Belfer’s City of Light, a historical mystery set at the turn of the century and dealing with the harnessing of Niagara Falls to produce hydroelectricity. We took a tour of some of the architectural delights of Buffalo mentioned in the book, had a hard hat tour of the Niagara Power Plant, and checked into the Ransom House for an elegant dinner and night at the inn. This week we joined Jim and Suzanne at Esperanza Mansion for a wonderful lunch overlooking Keuka Lake and then retired to the cottage they had rented for their vacation for our book discussion of The World is Flat. It’s hard to imagine having a more thoughtful, creative, and entertaining group of people with whom to share your love of books. Lucky us.

When asked by her boyfriend what was weird about me (following some comment of hers), Sarah launched into an explanation of what she clearly considers to be my organizational disease–the need to constantly reorder and reorganize my stuff and my house. I have to admit there’s truth to the accusation. I LOVE to organize and I am always looking for better ways to do it. I own more than one book outlining organizational principals, and have found some of them to be quite inspiring. The big event in my organizational life was discovering The Container Store. The first time I saw one I had flown to Atlanta so was severely limited in my ability to acquire new organizational tools. The next trip I spent my allotted budget on Sarah (who didn’t mind being organized by her mother at all!) Finally last summer I was able to leave the store with multiple shopping bags of my own, and I am hooked. Their stuff is the best, and I had a great time there again this summer. Sarah found this postcard in a shop in Little Five Points while we were there and it is me.

Then I saw this sign in The Container Store and knew I needed a picture of it.

Julie Morgenstern says in her book Organizing from the Inside Out, that if you are well-organized you can put everything away in 15 minutes or less. I make a horrendous mess while I’m scrapbooking, and I can clean it all up in less than 15! Nevertheless, I’ll still be looking for more good ideas.