Abstract

Hope is like water, existing in different states, exhibiting different properties.In the solid form, hope is manifest as specific hopes: I hope for this, I hope for that. In these concrete forms, solidified hope can become firm and fixed, for better and for worse. Dogged determination aimed at achieving a fixed hope is a very good characteristic—that is, until the continued pursuit of this specific solid hope becomes foolish, harmful, unwise. At the other end of the spectrum, in the gaseous form, hope is amorphous, a glowing feeling that one has to tune into to detect, akin to optimism. In between these two states, hope is liquid. Flowing. Assuming the shape of whatever holds it. Carving, eroding, even dissolving..