The Evidence of Hope

I had a Comp Day on Friday. We work for free over the summer for five days and get to trade these days during the school year.

It has been great yet I do dread Mondays because a double-load of work is waiting and usually it is more than just two days of linear work...some multiplier that is exponential for work not done gets piled on by the new work and it takes three days of work plus over-time to catch up.

I am not complaining though. I have been able to put in some serious quality time into ironing out the formatting wrinkles in my book. Exhausting but I think I have the book to a place where it is smoothed out. The goal with a book on Kindle is to present the content cleanly. Any issues with the formatting on the tech end of the book reeks of piker status.

I felt like giving up and letting to book be raw but then considered that I have already poured so much energy and time into it, what is another Saturday. Maybe it is a bad bet. I cast my book upon the waters and pray that God would bring others to it. My school district is going to do some profiling of the book and promotions, so it starts at home. I truly appreciate the support of the administration.

On Friday though, my day off, I spent a good deal of the day glued to the television watching the events unfold in Boston. A friend on Facebook even posted a live feed from police scanner of the law enforcement surrounding the perimeter in Watertown. Amazing that two sociopath brothers could hold a million people hostage and shut down a major American city. A ghost town, as if the whole city had been raptured, outside of those with badges. The media attention is what these deranged killers wanted. For their cause, for Islam, for Chechnya. I saw the younger brother's Twitter picture and it was a frightening picture of a roaring lion with teeth flashing ready to kill. So I like millions fed the beast.

I have a feeling that these boys witnessed a lot of violence when they lived in Russia and somehow America's avoidance of intervening there created a deep-seated animus.  Involving the U.S. in other countries internal conflicts typically makes the U.S. enemies of both sides. But, if we look the other way, that decision can be resented deeply. They had other animosities too. Who knows. No doubt these young men lost hope and decided on hate instead. Telling that the younger brother ran over the older brother, driving the stolen SUV in his attempts to flee the police. All violence takes its toll and the younger brother is going to have to eternally deal with the fact that he probably killed his older brother or at least was the final blow.

By Friday night I was bummed out. I knew that my brain had been concussed by the events of the week and I desperately needed something hopeful to hang my hat on. I decided to go to a film called The Evidence of Hope premiering a local independent cinema called Zoetropolis. Wow. It is essentially the telling of three individuals stories not cursing the darkness but lighting a candle. And the candles are children in their countries, many of whom would face a life of abject poverty and hopelessness without the work of these three inspiring souls. I even got to speak with the filmaker after the showing where there was a Q and A. It is important to intervene with children so that their unmet hope does not harden into hate that fills the void in their souls. The filmaker Chad Armour spoke of how the writing of Martin Luther King Jr. inspired him, nay, compelled him, to make this film. Martin Luther King Jr Quotes.

A message in the movie is to pursue dreams, to find our calling in the giftings God has given us to help humanity and ourselves. We are blessed when we are a blessing. The tagline of the movie is "To ignore your calling is an act of oppression." The woman main character spoke this and other great truths in the film.

So, I was greatly encouraged by the message of the film and it gave me hope to keep on writing through the jarring events of our 21st century wobbling and toppling world. Our idols are being shaken and shattered. Peace and Affluence. May God work in the ruins.