Tag: hope

Naive Hope Springs Eternal

Elizabeth Banak

In years past, when I have reflected on 9/11, it has always felt like the best and worst of what it means to be an American — unimaginable pain, but also extraordinary bravery. We rose to meet the challenge together, bound by grief, yes, but also by hope. We cried for the dead, we honored the heroes like Todd Beamer and those many first responders who gave their lives, and for a moment, we saw each other not as strangers or enemies, but as fellow citizens. We saw one another as humans in need of comfort, action, and love. It’s always given me hope. 

But it today feels different. And I guess it has for a long time now.

Children are being killed in churches, who are then mocked for praying. Innocent people, like Iryna Zarutska, are murdered on trains while people do nothing to help. Charlie Kirk, inarguably one of the most transformative political figures of a generation, wasassassinated in broad daylight, and the news of which in some circles was met with celebration and ridicule. All this happens while the divide between us grows wider, the anger louder, the violence more frequent. Something in our culture, in the very fabric that holds this nation together, is broken. I don’t know whether it’s a lack of shared American values, the influence of social media, the inability to see those we disagree with as anything other than evil, the decline of God in our culture… I guess it’s all those things. But we are not the same Americans who came together after 9/11. And that breaks my heart.

Because I still believe that a better America is in us. I have to believe it, even if it is naïve, because the alternative is…too terrible to imagine. But we’ve buried it under outrage, cynicism, fear, and tribalism. We’ve forgotten how to grieve together, how to disagree with decency, how to love our country and each other, even when we fall short.

There’s no undoing the tragedy of 9/11. There’s no undoing just the last month of tragedies! Nothing can bring back what we lost — not only the lives but the piece of our collective soul that seems to be gone. If we want to be better, we have to do better. We have tohonor the courage we saw — the courage to serve others, even at the cost of one’s life. We must respect and honor the selflessness of people like Todd Beamer, who knew his life would end, but acted anyway to save others. And beyond that, we can agree that anyone should be able to speak freely without fear of an assassin’s bullet. We can agree that everyone should be free to worship in God’s house and not have to justify their prayers at their worst moment. We can agree that action in service of others in need is a noble goal, not a fool’s errand. These all should be the most vaunted of American values. 

I don’t have the same optimism I once did. I feel more sorrow than hope today. But I do still believe that we can be more than what we’ve become — if we’re willing to be honest, to look inward, to speak out, and to choose hope over fear. To disagree without hate.To call out what is wrong and to do what is right and just. To have faith with works. To live lives of virtue and honor. To celebrate the best of us, just as we did after 9/11. And to tell those who laugh, mock, trade in violence, and stoke division to sit down and shut the hell up! 

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 14:27

The one about bubble lights

Elizabeth Banak

It’s Christmas Eve! It’s the one night of the year that we act a little nicer, we smile a little easier, we cheer a little more. For a couple of hours out of the whole year we are the people that we always hoped we would be. ~Francis Xavier Cross

Bubble lights are basically the lava lamp of Christmas… just as retro too. If you’ve never seen one before, a bubble light is just what it sounds like, a bulb with a long tube filled with water that bubbles when lit. That’s it. Nothing incredible or particularly memorable. Except that bubble lights are pretty much the most amazing thing to ever grace a Christmas tree! I won’t even argue with anyone about it. It’s a fact (cue the fact-checkers!).

For me, the magic of bubble lights isn’t so much what they are, but rather what they remind me of when I see them. Looking at one is kind of like replaying memories from childhood about Christmas in my head. I remember very few of the presents I received as a kid. But I will never forget once the tree was up, staring at a stupid bubble light and having that feeling of excitement wash over me. I will never forget sitting at the top of the stairs with my siblings waiting to hear the music that signalled we were allowed to come down on Christmas morning. I’ll never forget putting up the Christmas village with my parents as they added a new house every year and I struggled to figure how to make all the lights work with their janky old extension cords without starting a small fire (this is still an issue to this day for the record!). I’ll never forget watching Scrooged with my brothers about 30 times between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I’ll never forget all those Christmas Eve’s with a table full of food and bread pudding and thinking it was the most amazing day of the entire year. We all have those memories… those throwbacks to our childhood that we somehow try to recreate to make just as magical for our own children. Our tree still has bubble lights, and we make the kids wait to hear All Around the Christmas Tree before they come downstairs.

It truly is the simplest traditions that often mean the most as we look back on past Christmases and say, “Ah those were the days!” That’s because what our good memories offer us is that intrinsic feeling that Christmas ignites. It’s such a special time of year and for so many people it celebrates the birth of the Savior and, in that, a ray of hope that never dies. Because Christmas, what it represents, what it stands for, stripped down to its core is eternal hope… that ultimate desire for good. Hope is the reason humanity succeeds, the whole reason we strive to be better and do better. Hope is the beacon lighting the way to the future. Perhaps that’s why we often look so longingly and lovingly at the past. It’s the chance to see that hope we had as children realized into the life we have today. It may not be perfect and it may not be easy or exactly what we expected. But it’s wonderfully ours to live and continue to hope for the next good thing, no matter what life throws at us. 

At Christmas, I think we all strive a bit more to live that hope in kindness, generosity, and laughter. So whether it’s a bubble light, Christmas mass, a favorite movie, a song, or a plate full of food that takes you back to those days when unfettered hope made you so happy, strive to live that hope again at Christmas. Be the adult the kid in you always hoped you would be, even if only for a few hours. It’s the least we can do in gratitude for the Ultimate Gift we were all given on this day. Merry Christmas and God Bless!