Hope

Photo credit: My Manila

It was around this time of the year, when the evenings were colder than usual and you could already smell Christmas in the air.  A friend and I were taking a walk inside the campus, crunching wilted leaves beneath our feet.  Dusk had begun to fall.  Most of the other students have gone home.

"Don't you hate it how there's just so much uncertainty in life?" she said with a sigh. "One minute you're fine and then something unexpected happens and suddenly you're all messed up.  You can never be sure of what's life going to throw at you."

Silence. She was going through a rough patch in her relationship, and I was trying to help her sort things out.  We continued walking as the world turned a deeper shade of blue and the decorative lights hanging from the trees came to life.

I didn't know what to say.  But suddenly, I had a realization that seemed to come from nowhere, like a shooting star that catches you by surprise.  Like finding something you never thought you had, or something you've always thought you've lost.

And so I said, "Yeah, you're right.  We're creatures of pattern so we generally despise change and the uncertainty that it brings.

"But you know, because we're uncertain -- because we're not really sure what's going to happen, there is hope."

"...I know what I have to do now. I gotta keep breathing.  Because tomorrow the sun will rise.  Who knows what the tide could bring?" - Castaway (2000)