After writing the Road Ahead Part 1, The Washington Post published an article by Amanda Ripley, This element is critical to human flourishing — yet missing from the news (Opinion | Most news stories are grim. Here’s the first step toward fixing that. – The Washington Post).
The element she’s referring to is Hope, not hope as mere wishing, but as a formula: Hope = Goals + Road Map + Willpower. Hope is described not as an emotion, but a muscle that strengthens with exercise. Various people and organizations are teaching the formula and measuring increases in well-being that result from hope’s application.
All this sounds great until you read some of the comments associated with the article. The commentors are what Ms. Ripley describes in the article as people being resistant to hope and remaining skeptical. Perhaps it’s the voice of daring to experience hope, but rarely seeing projects delivered as expected.
What’s only mentioned once in the article, and not in the comments is agency — that realization that your actions, singularly or with others, can have an effect on the world.
Look at how hope and agency mesh: What do you want to change (goals)? How are you going to go about it (road map)? Are you going to do it or not (willpower)? Who can you get to help you with this change (agency)?
The medieval cathedral builders started with hope and acted with agency. (Fun Fact: in one 100-year period, the medieval church builders in Europe quarried more stone than all of Ancient Egypt. That’s agency!)
Whatever the circumstances, you can always decide to improve them. There can always be hope = goals + road map + willpower. And hope plus agency makes for a better world.
