Hope is a funny thing. It blossoms and blooms in the depths of hearts. Yet it dies and withers in mere seconds. It feeds us the strength we need to continue on in life and rips away all fight left inside us. So what is the point of hoping, if it has the inevitable end of despair? What is the point of reaching for stars that shine if they can disappear in the blink of an eye? 

We hope for the strength to be better, to be more than we are. So how can we be the hope we breath if it is just a figment of our imagination? Hope is not a state of reality, nor a plane on which we exist, or an object we can hold in our hands. Hope is fickle, a mirage. Yet we cling to it with every step, every breath, every word we speak or take. It is what powers us to get up in the morning, the hope for a brighter day than last, for a future that is better than our past. But why must we hope for this future that shines an inferior light on our past. Did we not laugh, smile, hug and kiss all those days in our past? Did we not cry tears of joy, hold hands of warmth and feel heartbeats of love? What can be better than what we already have? Already experienced? There are many things, things we hope for. One more day with a loved one, one more kiss from a past lover. These are hopes we believe in with every fibre of the soul, and these are hopes worth hoping, for they power us to be a better person.

The line we blur is the line between hope and greed. These ostensible hopes are not worth hoping for. They do not increase our personal value, brighten our days or cause laughter to bubble from the depths of our chest. They cause the chilling hands of worry, of shame, to grasp onto our wrist, tapping and whispering “I’m here, look at me, listen to me” like a clock ticking away time. These hopes are not hopes, they are greeds we possess and sugar-coat as hope. Hope for the latest technological device, hope to be noticed by the ‘cool kids’ group, hope to have enough money to purchase the latest edition. No, not hope. These are not the hopes we make them out to be. These are the greeds and wants that drag us down, cause snickers of judgement and shadows of shame to be cast on our lives. Want for the latest technological device, want to be noticed by the ‘cool kid’ group, want to have enough money to purchase the latest edition. Which sounds more realistic to you? Want or hope?

So we hope for the good and want the actions that taint. But we blur the lines and call wants hope. We fool ourselves, pull the wool over our eyes, and let the little devil on our shoulder cast shadows of anxiety, shame and judgement over our days, but these are not bad things. Is it normal, correct, to feel anxiety over the outfit you wear that you hoped would come in stock? Is it not normal to feel ashamed of what phone you use after hoping for an upgrade for so long? Would hope, this sunshine diamond that we imagine and associate with good brings, cause these feelings to stir inside us? I do not believe so. It is an imaginary line blurred by the corruption of mankind. We want more than we already have, and hope for better, but not the better we should hope for. For the better of war-stricken countries, for the better of our family's health or joy to be brought to the little girl we look after. 

Go ahead, call your wants hope, but remember that the line can only be blurred for so long, a mirage can only last as long as the sun's rays, before we see our mind for what it is. A place of