So lately I have been reflecting on life and pondering the idea of hope. To some extent, I am starting to move away from the promise of hope. I know it sounds radically motivating—and rightfully so—to live on hope, to expect good days, and this has an uplifting effect. It changes how you view life. No wonder it has been appropriated as the title of one of my favorite reads, The Audacity of Hope.
I recently watched Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan and was moved by a scene where an American drone operator, while sitting at a desk in Nevada and simply receiving orders from his superior, kills a normal, working, religious father in Syria. When he is later informed that it was an accident and that it was a false target, he is haunted. He quits his job, takes a flight to Turkey, and then a cab to Syria to find the family of the deceased.
Once he arrives at the compound, he is greeted by the father whose son he had killed and sees the man’s son selling some supplies to make a living. With him is a stack of cash, which he hopes to use to buy off his guilty conscience. Here is the interesting part: the old man refuses the money, shows no anger, and seemingly forgives the drone operator. On his way out, he decides to “buy” supplies from the son and trades all the money he has with him.
Life happens in the mundane, and I realize that I—and many others—have been waiting for a grandiose event, one that will blow our minds, yet this hardly comes. Our lives happen in the daily, “boring” events of everyday life. Perhaps this is where we need to focus more. So the bus to work, the cold lunch at the office, the rush to attend an event, random Fridays—indeed, life happens here. And with intentionality, and perhaps by slowing down a bit to appreciate these mundane things, one can be free—better said, I will be free.
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