Posted on 13 May, 2009 -
Hope, Glory and 10,000 tonnes of rubbish
Land of Hope and Glory? Can Britain ever be mighty again?
Yes it can. But it won’t be down to Gordon Brown or our super-wealthy elite. It will be because WE as individuals are MIGHTY
Here’s how to rekindle your hope for great things in YOUR OWN future - and for the future of the world
I have been reading this week an amazing story of how 50,000 people (4% of the population) got together in Estonia and cleared the entire country of 10,000 tonnes of rubbish.
As a country that is half covered in forest, these forests have always been treated as an illegal dumping ground for rubbish but people were becoming increasingly aware that this was not acceptable. In May last year, 50,000 people got involved in an incredible project and cleared waste from all over the Estonian countryside in just five hours!
Not only has this made a huge difference to the appearance of the countryside but it has transformed the way people think about the environment and the possibilities of their own personal impact on their surroundings and the world.
We can, as individuals, be part of something truly amazing.
What kind of greatness can you offer to the world?
This story, in fact, has also had a big impact on me. Combined with my joyous discovery yesterday of a house nearby offering trays of lovely tomato plants for free (4 different kinds all lovingly potted and labeled with typed out and laminated sheets)… it has rekindled my hope for mankind.
I know some will chastise me for associating this hope with such an imperialistic song as Land of Hope and Glory… but I still think there’s something in those words that can inspire us to greatness yet.
Not greatness as in let’s go and colonise some countries and steal all their natural resources and make their workers our slaves, but greatness as in let’s all try to do great things, however small, to improve the lives of all.
Let’s push ourselves to glorify this life that we have been given. To take pride in ourselves and our country. And to have great hope not only for our own contribution to life but the future of the planet. And yes, we do all contribute to the greatness of this world.
Land of Hope and Glory,
Mother of the Free,
How shall we extol thee,
Who are born of thee?
Wider still and wider
Shall thy bounds be set;
God, who made thee mighty,
Make thee mightier yet.
Whatever you dream of, be prepared to take risks to get it
One of the first places we can apply the concept of Hope and Glory, of course, is in our own lives and our belief in our own selves and our importance to this world.
Having hope for our own future does of course take some bravery. As author and psychotherapist Dorothy Rowe says:
“Remember, trusting means hoping, and hoping means uncertainty. Trusting yourself and others means accepting uncertainty.”
We cannot hope for a better future or for our desires to come true unless we are prepared to take some risks to achieve it. Nothing ventured, nothing gained as they say.
I also love this quotation from Václav Havel, Czech playwright and essayist who’s increasing involvement in politics and human rights lead him to start the ‘Velvet Revolution’ and to become the last President of Czechoslovakia and the first President of the Czech Republic (a wonderful story of the glory of hope and person power in itself!).
Hope, he said “is a dimension of the soul, and it’s not essentially dependent on some particular observation of the world or estimate of the situation… It is an orientation of the spirit, an orientation of the heart; it transcends the world that is immediately experienced, and is anchored somewhere beyond its horizons. I don’t think you can explain it as a mere derivative of something here, of some movement, or of some favourable signs in the world. I feel that its deepest roots are in the transcendental, just as the roots of human responsibility are… It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.”
So what can YOU do?
You tell me.
If there is a hope in your heart, do not let it die. Where is the glory in playing it safe and avoiding engagement in life in an attempt to avoid pain?
If you believe in something, let others know. And if you believe in it strongly enough then DO something about it.
Start a revolution. Start a new trend. Organise a street party or write a new song!
“Sanity may be madness but the maddest of all is to see life
as it is and not as it should be.”
Don Quixote
And finally, remember that hope itself will get you nowhere. You also need to take ACTION to make things come true.
In the words of Dale Carnegie:
“Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.”
Wishing Hope and Glory to you all!
