Live in Hope-Live in Beauty

"Hope, [...]the desire of something together with the expectation of obtaining it."

Man, what a boring definition of hope! I haven't been feeling well since about five o'clock and since loud noises give me headaches and since there are a lot of raised voices and loud electronics in our house, I've been hiding out my room for a while now. I'm in a tough spot while living with my parents, because while I often don't want to be around loud noises, i.e. yelling and blasting electronics, I also don't want to isolate. Being around loud noises gives me a headache; isolation makes me lonely and depressed. What's a girl to do? Heck if I know!

Anyway, I was feeling pretty down and so I searched for "hope" on Google. It was sort of a silly act, but I was curious to see what results would appear. The above quote was one of the first responses and it immediately woke me up. "The desire of something together with the expectation of obtaining it." Well, I suppose, technically, but where's the passion, or the, you know, "hope?!" I mean if you're looking for it, that kind of humdrum phrase just ain't going to cut it. It's the kind of definition I would expect from a dictionary, but this was from a religious site! To be fair, when I clicked on the link, the site had a much longer definition, but still-yawn!!!

Instantly, inspired by my minister's last sermon about the importance of appreciating beauty and creativity I thought of my own definition:

Hope is when one continues to live in the knowledge that life is beautiful even when everything that is felt by the senses seems like dull dust falling through one's fingertips.

Of course, if you need a movie clip to prove this point, look no further than the inspirational work by Roberto Benigni, "Life is Beautiful". If you haven't watched the whole film, do it now! Though not without a box of kleenex by your side...

For those unfamiliar with the story, it is a love story about a man with a beautiful heart who risks it all so that his son does not lose hope and all innocence while imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp. He pretends the whole dehumanizing experience is really just a game. The clip below is phenomenal and will make you smile.