Grafitti, Kings Cross, London UK
Albert Camus said ‘where there is no hope, it is incumbent on us to invent it.’
Why is there a need to focus on hope now more than ever? The answer lies in recent events taking place all over the world. Globalization and political tensions have been putting strain on relationships between people. Some people feel that they are winners and others that they are losers. Some people who feel that they are losers are feeling increasingly hopeless and need all our help and support.
It is incumbent on us all to try and rekindle the flame of hope because ‘Where there is no hope, it is incumbent on us to invent it.’ Let’s take Camus words and build hope. If we reflect and look deeply enough it is possible to find reasons to be optimistic and hopeful.
I am reminded of a lady that I have known for many years. About 11 years ago, this lady was diagnosed with what was thought to be inoperable cancer that had spread all over her body. She came to see me to tell me that the specialists thought that her chances were poor but she was nevertheless willing to undergo chemotherapy because, even though she had been told that her illness was terminal, she still had hope for recovery.
She started chemotherapy and some people around her lost hope and gave up, but she never did. When the chemotherapy was concluded the lady made a full recovery and has had her 5 year and 10 year cancer follow up appointments and remains cancer free. Every time she sees me she lets me know that she is a ‘survivor.’
This lady kept hope alive, creating hope from what seemed like a hopeless situation. She never gave up and was rewarded. This is a lesson for all of us caregivers, families and friends that we should never give up hope. We can learn a lot from this lady.
Many a time we meet individuals who feel hopeless, either as a result of their own situation or as a result of the situation of others. We are faced with daily news reports filled with tragedies and situations that people find difficult to make sense of. But we need to keep in mind that out of tragedy can come moments of triumph.
In his 1942 novel, L’Étranger, Camus said ‘in the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger — something better, pushing right back.’ These words from this Nobel Prize winning Algerian-French writer are pertinent to the world we currently live in with its crises, difficulties and political and financial upheaval. We have to find ways to invest in our community and build our dreams.
Graffiti, Bushwick, New York, USA
In their 2016 review Nauja Kleist and Stef Jansen specifically addressed hope in times of crisis. They remind us of the story of Pandora’s box from Greek mythology. Pandora, the first woman created by the Greek Gods opened a jar of human evils which dispersed all over the world, except for hope which stayed in the jar. They remind us that we must hold onto our hope, find our personal inner strength and our community strength and invent the hope that we need to get by.
We should not allow current global events to make us lose hope or lose our humanity. Rather these events should be an incentive for us to look after ourselves, look after one another and remember that we are all in it together.
As Camus also said “The realization that life is absurd cannot be an end, but only a beginning.” Keep the flame of hope alive.
References
- Kleist N, Jansen S. (2016) Introduction: Hope over Time – Crisis, Immobility and Future-Making, History and Anthropology, 27:4, 373-392 doi: 10.1080/02757206.2016.1207636
- Camus A. L’Étranger 1942 (Gallimard, French), 1946 (Hamish Hamilton, English)
- www.instagram.com/thebushwickcollective/
Professor Gabriel Ivbijaro MBE JP MBBS FRCGP FWACPsych MMedSci MA IDFAPA
President WFMH (World Federation for Mental Health) & Chair The World Dignity Project
Medical Director, The Wood Street Medical Centre, 6 Linford Road, Walthamstow, London E17 3LA, UK
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