Esperanza – Hope
by Daysi Hurtado

Happy New Year! Feliz año nuevo! The new year is finally upon us and the dreaded 2016 year is over! Like many of us, I have participated in the tradition in creating new resolutions for the year. As I grow the resolutions have evolved from resolutions to goals, to now intentions. So what is my intention for 2017?

I have been thinking about this question since after the election. The election brought up so many feelings. I went from feeling sick, to heartbreak, to denial. I have strategically avoided the thought pieces and articles post election, because I just couldn’t bring myself to relive the pain. It was like making myself look at old pictures from ex’s past. The heartbreak was still there, and the picture wouldn’t change a thing. To be honest I’m still waiting for Ashton Kutcher to come out and tell America we’re being Punk’d. But here we are 14 days until Inauguration Day. As the date approaches, I knew I had to break my silence on the matter, so I finally brought myself to read the articles and thought pieces.

I was only able to bring myself to read the articles and thought pieces In December when I unexpectedly began my healing when I went to go see Rogue One over the holiday break. (Even if you’re not a Star Wars fan, go see it and you can thank me later.) If you are not familiar with the franchise this movie takes place between Episode III and IV and tells the story on how the Rebel Alliance stole the plans to destroy the Death Star, which is the story told in Episode IV. There was a line in the movie that has given me the most comfort since the results after November 8th. “Rebellions are built on hope.” Now let me explain, I’m not suggesting a full on rebellion on January 20th, but what I am saying is that we need to hold onto our hope. If all the have is hate, then hope is what will keep us moving forward.

So my intention for 2017 is to have radical hope. My intention blossomed from a movie but it can be read beautifully described in Junot Diaz’s article “Radical Hope”. I wanted to share with you all of with my favorite excerpt.

“But all the fighting in the world will not help us if we do not also hope. What I’m trying to cultivate is not blind optimism but what the philosopher Jonathan Lear calls radical hope. “What makes this hope radical,” Lear writes, “is that it is directed toward a future goodness that transcends the current ability to understand what it is.” Radical hope is not so much something you have but something you practice; it demands flexibility, openness, and what Lear describes as “imaginative excellence.” Radical hope is our best weapon against despair, even when despair seems justifiable; it makes the survival of the end of your world possible. Only radical hope could have imagined people like us into existence. And I believe that it will help us create a better, more loving future.”