Hope and change

What is hope, really? I'm not sure. I think many people have some absurd definition in their minds that means all our dreams will come true and we will live happily ever after. I think hope is something we hang on to, knowing that the chances of success for what ever it is be slim, but possible. I have hopes, don't get me wrong. I hope my dad will quit smoking so he can hunt with me in the future. I hope for healthy babies. I hope for those in my family who struggle with other addictions. I also pray for these things, among others. I think hope and prayer aren't enough. For true change to happen, we need action and conviction. If we want to change something, we have to make a substantial effort. Almost always we need support from those whom we love and respect in order to accomplish that change. If we are comfortable, or content there is hardly any motivation internally to make anything happen. What we get is hot air. Something we are all familiar with. If we have others around us that we hope will change, we have to support them, even if it means changing ourselves. I stopped using tobacco to support my dad, I didn't tell him that though. Maybe I should. I have also tried to stop nagging, trust me negative reinforcement like this doesn't work. No One, two years old or eighty eight likes being told what to do. It makes us want to rebel. I think these things are universal with lots of problems. There are lots of things that we hope for. Hope is a good thing, even though the word has been hijacked and overused lately. The most important thing is that we can't confuse hope with a wish. Wishing gets us nowhere, hence the old addage "Crap in one hand and wish in the other. See which one fills up first." People wish all the time for unrealistic, and sometimes even negative things. Wishing is Hopeless. Hope is something we have to go after. Hope has to be realistic. We can't hope to win the lottery if we don't buy a ticket. That would be a wish. We have to buy lots and lots of tickets and invest our best efforts, learn to play the odds, and strategize on what numbers to play. Then maybe we will see a change.