Article March 20, 2006 Issue

HE KNOWS THE WAY I TAKE

BY ABIGAIL MACKAY

When it comes to solving desperate situations, what often saves the day is someone, somewhere, not giving up hope. But the kind of persistence I'm talking about—persistence in spiritually based hope—is not the same as happy-go-lucky optimism.

This past year, 2005, saw a string of devastating calamities around the world, such as Hurricane Katrina in the United States, and the earthquake in Pakistan. While these disasters were heart-wrenching for the rest of the world to witness, what also emerged from the coverage was an encouraging view of humanity's far-reaching capacity to respond.

Taking stock of the past year, I realized that the irrepressible hopefulness that impels people to insist, "There must be a way!" is so natural that we often underestimate its power. Rather than just expressing a stubborn refusal to accept hard facts, many people facing overwhelming challenges have proved that the source of this bounce-back resilience is actually spiritual. And exhaustless.