What gives you hope? (Especially when hope feels impossible, despair so close at hand and in our hearts.)
For me, it’s art. People I admire or a conversation with a friend. Reading. A podcast. Movement, nature.
And picture books, always. Even if kids’ books seem unrelated to the realities of suffering (though sometimes they document them vitally), in my mind, they’re a sorely-needed embodiment of hope. Of children reading them, seeing themselves and things as they are or as they should be: better, equitable, with understanding and harmony.
Picture books, to me, are a horizon, even if one far off. A view of what is possible, of dawn—out there, light to grasp at, work for, nurture for those that follow.
I am viewing most everything I do and write and create as an act of love and service. As me being an ancestor to those who will experience it down the line (I hope). At least I’m trying to. And to me, that’s what children’s books are: acts of love and service. For children. For others. For us too.
Books serve as ancestors. Books are teachers. Leaders. Horizons of dawn, of promise to look to.
Here are some picture books that have been that embodiment for me lately as we work for a future that looks like their loving, joyful, meaning-filled, hopeful pages.
From Clint Smith’s poetry collection, Above Ground; “When People Say ‘We Have Made It Through Worse Before’”:
Please, dear reader,
do not say I am hopeless, I believe there is a better future to fight for, I simply accept the possibility that I may not live to see it. I have grown weary of telling myself lies
that I might one day begin to believe. We are not all left standing after the war has ended. Some of us have become ghosts by the time the dust has settled.
I find hope in art, too, and in everyday choices that make a mighty impact. But most of all, I find it in seeing compassionate people building love in this world. Thank you for being one of them, Danielle!
Clinton Smith’s writing is just wow! Picture books, walks in our local park, art, animals. Those are just a few that I experience more regularly and yet still ooh and aah over. ☀️Diane
Synchronicities make me feel hopeful. They feel like encouraging signs from the universe. And when I notice and celebrate progress in our daily lives, it makes me feel hopeful, even if the progress is small and slow.
I find hope in art, too, and in everyday choices that make a mighty impact. But most of all, I find it in seeing compassionate people building love in this world. Thank you for being one of them, Danielle!
Oh, same, same! Looking to you and other folks as light! <3
Clinton Smith’s writing is just wow! Picture books, walks in our local park, art, animals. Those are just a few that I experience more regularly and yet still ooh and aah over. ☀️Diane
Agreed on the poem! Yes yes, all hopeful glimmers.
Synchronicities make me feel hopeful. They feel like encouraging signs from the universe. And when I notice and celebrate progress in our daily lives, it makes me feel hopeful, even if the progress is small and slow.
I am trying to notice them this year!
Community and togetherness adds meaning to it all. 💛