There Is Always Hope!

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In his book, Put Down Your Sword, Fr. John Dear talks about his friend, Pete Seeger, "For years, one of my friends, the legendary folksinger Pete Seeger, has questioned friends and audiences who feel hopeless. 

“In the early 1970s,” he asks, “did you ever expect to see President Nixon resign because of Watergate?” 

“No,” people answer. 

“Did you ever expect to see the Pentagon leave Vietnam the way it did?” 

“No, we didn’t,” everyone answers.
  
“In the 1980s, did you expect to see the Berlin Wall come down so peacefully?” Pete asks. 

“No, never,” they respond.
  
“In the 1990s, did you expect to see Nelson Mandela released from prison, apartheid abolished, and Mandela become president of South Africa?” 

“Never in a million years.” 

“Did you ever expect the two warring sides of Northern Ireland to sign a peace agreement on Good Friday?” 

“Never.” 

“If you can’t predict those things,” Pete concludes, “don’t be so confident that there’s no hope! There’s always hope!”

^^^^^

Seeger's quote "don’t be so confident that there’s no hope! There’s always hope!" is re-quoted often and in various ways. The point is, this musician, singer, songwriter, poet, activists never gave up in all his 94 years hoping for peace, environmental balance, love, and an end to hate in all its forms.

Throughout 94 years, he saw hate and all the isms that exist in all their ugliness. He, also, saw the end of many of those events. 

If Seeger was still with us, he would be standing, guitar in hand, in front of this Nation saying to us, "Don't be so confident that there is no hope!  There is always hope!"

May hope fill all our hearts giving us the strength to meet the problems we face today. May we never give up believing this world can be a better place, a safe place, a place where we ALL live together in peace.

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