The power of hope and choices

In his book called “Man’s Search For Meaning”, Dr. Viktor Frankl shared a story from his experiences in the concentration camps during the Holocaust. He noticed that the death rate of prisoners in the camps spiked during the week of Christmas and New Year of 1944. He being a psychiatrist, attributed this to many prisoners who held on to the ‘hope’ of liberation before end of year during World War II. When they saw no change in circumstances, they lost hope and this directly impacted their immunity and ability to survive.

This is quite a powerful story because of such a simple yet important concept of hope in our lives. We may not be in concentration camps or under a death sentence per se, but we sometimes do have our own experiences that push us to the wall and get us emotionally deranged. At present, we are collectively going through one of the worst times in the history of mankind, so the probability of witnessing extreme variations in individual and societal behavior is much higher.

For example, during September last year I lost an immediate neighbor and a close relative to Covid. I had known them for almost a decade and it was heart wrenching to see two healthy young men and the sole supporters of their families almost vanish into thin air. As if this were not enough, the struggle, trauma and guilt together still wreck havoc for their loved ones. The loss they are going through is painfully irrevocable and I shudder every time I decide to check on them. As human beings we get impacted by each other more often than not, so the occurrence of similar instances within family and friends are neither pleasant nor welcome. Gone are the days when we happily headed of to pay a visit to our friends or drive away to a beach during a weekend. The value of many things that we had likely taken for granted like human relationships and simple vacations have also grown exponentially I must say.

According to experts, the human brain is wired to deal with short-term threats and the current one seems like continuing from eternity. People have lost lives; many of the survivors struggle to make ends meet for food, clothing or shelter.

There are basic human needs and it is really sad and unfortunate for us as a community. So of course the risk of losing hope is much higher!

So let us try to change a lens before we lose any further hope. Research says that human beings have the ability to evolve and survive the worst possible situations. In fact I’d say we could also help a grieving friend, a tired colleague and a depressed relative only if we can find ways to keep our own hopes intact and know that this too shall pass. It is only about being resilient enough. More importantly it is about wanting to do it and take responsibility when no one really expects us to. I had read a news article about a middle aged lady in Assam who started stitching face masks as early as April 2020 which was the onset of the pandemic for most of us. During these times, facemasks were not readily available in the market. I find this story inspiring because she extended help to her own little circle of influence and was humble enough to say that it was the least she could do. Despite waves of negativity and helplessness in people across geographies, we hear brave stories about people who make an effort to help each other. Isn’t that basically the essence of humanity? It may sound silly, but there are few who would not even forward a message received unless they verify authenticity. They say “Why spread something that I am not even sure of just because someone sent it to me?” How true! After all, it is just about hitting the ‘Send’ or ‘Forward’ button in a digital age.

In the movie Spiderman, Pete’s uncle says, “With great power comes great responsibility”. We may not have super human powers, however we do have the power to make a choice and the ability to percolate it even further. What matters is how responsible is your choice.