Courage and hope

2013 has been a trying year.
Three people I love were diagnosed with, and/or treated for life-threatening conditions. Then there was Isaac breaking his thumb and Wendy coming off the motor scooter, and there were other upsetting things that I can’t tell you about.
And outside of my domestic sphere, the world became nastier, with the increasingly divisive politics of the coalition, who through their policies, serially beat up one group of vulnerable people after another, and threw more and more into the vulnerable category. Now, they are refusing to take in refugees from Syria.(Aarrghh- this is not supposed to be a political blog – I broke my own rules!) 
Then, there was the rest of the world. Charlie Booker puts it so well…
Yes: 2013 was a horrorshow. The news became a Stephen King short-story collection accidentally being adapted into live events in real time. Even unpleasantly extreme news stories that would normally stand out as the most appalling thing you'd ever heard about were quickly replaced by something even worse…….
……This was the news, every day: bombings, massacres, murders, celebrity child abuse and high-profile deaths. One after the other. After a while you just thought: no. No. Anything but this. So your brain shut down and started whistling.
That is what happened to me.
A dear friend asked me the other day if I was feeling better. She understood that my depression was not about feeling sorry for myself; it was about losing courage and hope. 
I am feeling better, but I’m still wondering where to find that courage and hope.
Maybe my grandsons (who I'm not allowed to show you) and my granddaughters (who I am)  will help…




Here’s a thought from Mary Ann Radmacher:
Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says ‘I will try again tomorrow.’
I wish all of you courage and hope for 2014.