Lessons In Hope - The Power Of Solidarity

Dear friends,

Welcome to this meditation which is number two in the series under the heading Lessons in Hope.

This time we look at the hope arising from people working together.

Hope doesn't exist in isolation.

Hope is nurtured through love,

Kindness and a deep commitment to goodness.

The flame of hope is kept alive by the actions of good people,

Good people whose stories we hear and so many good people working for goodness all around us.

People who are not disheartened or discouraged even in dark times.

In fact it is in the darkest of times that our acts of love shine the brightest.

In these times we have a choice,

Give in to negativity or stand with those who keep the flame of positivity and hope alive.

Let's pause as usual for just one minute.

This 60 second pause will open the door to the wonderful present moment,

The now.

The now is where we plug into the power of peace and calm.

This is where we rededicate ourselves to everything that is positive and good.

So for the next minute you might like to close your eyes and simply pay attention to your breathing.

Notice the simple life-giving act of breathing in and breathing out.

Welcome back.

If we look back over history we will find very many periods of darkness.

Darkness brought about by the actions of people and darkness arising in the course of nature.

There have been times when natural obstacles have come our way and times when our sense of common decency and humanity have been challenged.

But it is in the darkest of times that our acts of love shine the brightest.

And as for challenges brought about by human failings,

It has been pointed out many times through history and the world over.

It is the troublesome guys who are in the minority,

A very small minority.

They may have a lot to say and do.

They may be loud in the saying and frantic in the doing.

People can,

For a time,

Confuse their noise with wisdom.

People can believe momentum of any sort means progress.

How many times have we seen people caught up in the heat of the moment?

But sooner rather than later,

The noise is seen for the emptiness that it is.

And the good people,

Working together,

Overcome the challenge and bring about a new dawn.

Some of us will have come across the inspired words of the wonderful Albert Schweitzer.

Sometimes our light goes out but is blown into flame by another human being.

Each of us owes deepest gratitude to those who have rekindled the light.

By way of encouragement,

Let us look at only a few examples of people who have kept the flame of hope alive in the darkest times.

The Second World War provides us with numerous examples of bravery and courage in the face of unprecedented horror.

Between 1940 and 1944,

The inhabitants of a French village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon and the villages nearby provided refuge for some 5,

000 people,

Very many of them Jews fleeing from the Nazi atrocities.

Under the leadership of Pastor André Trocmé of the Reformed Church of France,

The residents of these villages offered shelter in private homes,

In hotels,

On farms and in schools.

They forged identification and ration cards for the refugees,

Enabling some of them to escape across the border to neutral Switzerland.

These brave people went against the grain.

They stood up for what was right,

Saved many people from certain death and they provided history and us with an example of the power of communal goodness.

Although war has given us many examples of bravery,

People power and the combined efforts of people working for good have brought about many changes which have benefited humanity.

Let's have another one minute pause now,

Before we go on to consider some of our peacetime achievements.

Welcome back.

A global vaccination campaign,

Driven by the World Health Organisation and supported by thousands of local health workers,

Mobilised people across every continent to ensure that vaccines reached even remote villages.

The campaign worked,

It was successful,

And thanks to this coordinated effort,

This coordinated global effort,

Smallpox was officially eradicated in 1980.

The Smallpox eradication is hailed as one of the greatest public health achievements of all time,

Brought about by concerted cooperation.

On a more mundane level,

But still of long-time importance as we will see,

Is the work to reduce the damage caused by the proliferation of one-use plastics.

Ordinary concerned citizens,

People like you and me,

Environmental activists and scientists,

Have been working together to raise awareness of plastic pollution in the oceans.

This public pressure has led to major policy changes,

Curbing the use of single-use plastic bags in many jurisdictions.

With microplastics being found in every corner of the globe,

Even in Antarctica,

And appearing now in every organ of the human body,

There is still much to be done to reduce plastic pollution.

But we can see how supermarkets and suppliers react to public opinion,

And it gives us hope that change can be brought about by people power.

Think of our success when we worked together to undo the damage which CFCs caused to the Earth's ozone layer.

When scientists discovered that these chemicals in aerosol sprays and refrigerators were causing the problem,

A global demand for a remedy followed very quickly.

The Montreal Protocol phasing out these harmful chemicals was signed in 1987.

It's wonderful to see the ozone layer is recovering,

Slowly but surely,

Proving that global cooperation and people power can reverse environmental damage.

We need lots more of the same,

Because working together there is hardly a limit to all the good we can do.

These examples show how people,

When mobilised for a cause,

Can create meaningful,

Lasting change for the better.

What do we need?

All we need is a small number of motivated people to set the ball rolling.

So even in the darkest of times,

We must hold on to hope.

To quote the poet Rumi,

Ours is not a caravan of despair.

Hope is not about wishful thinking.

It's about choosing every day to believe,

To firmly believe in the possibility of renewal.

Hope is about committing to act together for the good,

And continuing to dream of a better world,

A brighter tomorrow,

Even in,

And especially in,

Darker times.

You and I can be bearers of that hope,

Seeing beyond the darkness to the dawn that is coming,

Knowing that it will come just as spring follows winter,

And just as night gives way to day.

May each of us here be part of the light,

The light that leads the way to a new tomorrow.

Namaste.