Hey, hi, and hello. Welcome back to my blog where not all those who wander are lost (J.R.R Tolkien). This blog post is a little different as it is an ongoing reflection of our current project. This is not a project reflective post.

What is a story of hope? Over the past week and a half PLP 12 and 11 have been trying to find an answer to this question. We have been analyzing different stories in order to try and as a class come to an answer, however I believe answers vary on peoples’ experiences.

Personally I believe that a story of hope is like Bethany Hamilton’s story. Bethany Hamilton is a surfer who’s arm got bitten off by a shark and was able to overcome adversity with resilience, hope, and support from her family, friends, and community. Her story is truly inspiring of how despite losing an arm she was able to overcome challenges with the hope to overcome.

 

Hope is often mistaken as optimism and being over positive. Optimistic people often blind themselves to reality and deny while hope is something that comes with realizing the reality at hand and finding a way forward. Hope is a key to survival. In the show “Alone” the survivalists who have hope often are the ones who make it to the final 2 or 3.

What lessons and inspiration can we draw from the stories of individuals and communities that have faced tragedy and overcome adversity? Hope, resilience, and survival are the three key lessons that we can pull from the stories we have analyzed so far.

Going back to our first question (What is a story of hope?) I think that a story of hope relies on the inclusion of someone or something recovering from facing adversity. With the story of the survivor tree (a story of hope) people see the tree as a sign of hope that if this tree can survive than we can. Stories of Hope can often be overlooked as they might be on the lower scale of an adversity faced. In conclusion a story of hope is one that we can learn from and be inspired by. Hope is something that can be shared.