Who Dares to Take Away Our Hope?

As the days go by and you keep finding yourself tangled in the web of problems we have everywhere in this country we love so madly, there are moments when you think you are going to stop in your tracks or “throw in the towel,” whether from exhaustion, from suffering, or for so many… so many reasons.

It is in those moments that we feel something pulling us upward so that we keep going. And then, anyway, somehow, we keep praying and keep working, without stopping. Because if there is one thing many of us Venezuelans have learned, it is that we need to pray and work at the same time in order to keep moving forward with strength and with hope.

It is in those moments, when the water is up to our necks, that we realize: what would become of our lives if we did not pray and if we had no hope?

The British writer G. K. Chesterton said that “hope is the power of being cheerful in circumstances which we know to be desperate,” and that it is only when everything is hopeless that hope truly becomes a strength. I sincerely believe that many of us Venezuelans can tell Chesterton right now: you were right, because with so much uncertainty and so many problems, the only thing that can give us strength and push us forward is hope.

Seeing so much suffering, so much injustice, so much inefficiency is not easy at all. And yet we keep going. It helps to go out into the street when our spirits are low and come across thousands upon thousands of people who, despite their problems, go back and forth every day (from dawn until nightfall) to their jobs, to their classes, to keep moving forward. And best of all (and this sometimes leaves us amazed), many of them do it with a smile on their faces, even though they are carrying their burden on the inside.

And even though they are flat broke (literally), they are always ready to help anyone who needs it. Because that is how most of us Venezuelans are, even if some who don’t know us well make fun of us and call us dreamers, lazy, irresponsible…

Since today is the feast of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, I want to share with you a poem associated with her that can help us keep moving forward, working for our country, for our people, for unity in our homeland, for an end to hatred and resentment.

In short, so that peace and justice may shine in our beloved land, and all of us Venezuelans can enjoy it together, united as the brothers and sisters we are.

A poem so that we do not lose hope, and so that we know that, anyway, whatever good we can do to sow peace will always be worth something, even if others try to destroy it, or even when we sometimes think that what we are doing is very little.

This poem is written on the wall of Shishu Bhavan, the children’s home of the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, where the sisters care for severely malnourished children who do not have a long life expectancy; children so ill that perhaps they will never understand what they are living for; the poorest of the poor, with the greatest needs on earth. And there, some people have even asked the sisters why they waste their time working with children who may not even survive.

Here is the poem, in the Spanish version I quoted in my column, in the hope that it gives you a little more hope to keep going:

(The poem, known in English as “Anyway,” is a series of short maxims. Each names a way in which goodness can go unrewarded or even be punished, and each ends with the same answer: love, do good, be honest, build, help and give your best… anyway.)

So we will keep going, anyway! And let no one dare take away our hope, because without hope we would be dead. And if there is anyone who loves being fully alive and happy on this earth, in spite of everything, it is us Venezuelans.

So: Hope, anyway! At every moment and in every circumstance. Because hope is the last thing we lose!