Hope = naive

Someone told me recently that I have a sense of hope that is usually associated with younger people. Not their exact words but this was their meaning. They linked this observation, amongst others things, to my decision to join Amnesty International and Friends of the Earth. They correlated my decisions to join these organisations with the right of passage (if you can call it such) of a young University leavers decision to travel the world. It was an interesting observation. This person appeared to suggest that to be a cynic was to be truly wise. That we come through this idea that the world can be wonderful to arrive at the realisaton that it never will be. To have hope means that the truth has not been realised.

I do view the world through hopeful eyes. I do believe that human beings have the power to make the world better. I do not believe that this is either a naive or a vain hope. However, if I'm wrong then I'm saddened but none-the-less I'd rather be naive and hopeful, even if this means that I haven't realised the truth.

xx