I Have No Hope Anywhere Else

     I have no hope anywhere else.
     Not in conspiracy theories.
     Not in claims of election fraud with no hard evidence.
     Not in those who would subvert the Constitution rather than support democracy.
     Not in politicians on either side of the aisle who choose party over principles.
     Not in the masses from any political persuasion who believe that violence, burning, and looting are a solution.
     Not in those American Christians who bow down to bullying and braggadocio rather than obey Jesus, who declared that name calling is murder.
     Where is my hope? I think about a woman whose dress caught on fire. Her husband, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, threw himself on her burning body to snuff out the flames, but she perished. Longfellow was left with burns on his face and six children to raise. Two years later, his oldest son enlisted in the Civil War and was severely wounded.
     As Longfellow sought to nurse his son back to health, he heard Christmas bells ringing. Yet war cannons boomed throughout the land. He bowed in despair. “Hate is strong,” he wrote, “and mocks the song of peace on earth, good-will to men!”
     But the bells pealed louder, stronger. Hope stirred in Longfellow. “God is not dead, nor doth He sleep,” he scribbled. “The Wrong shall fail, the Right prevail, with peace on earth, good-will to men.”
     I share his hope. I yearn for the day when God makes everything right!
     Where is your hope?
     Here is a riveting song of Longfellow’s poem performed by a band of siblings.