Making Hope Happen: Create the Future You Want for Yourself and Others (29 page)

Please build up your hope. Then with hope to spare, help others build a future that is better than the present. Much better.

What happens if we the hopeful make small tweaks to television shows, video games, foreign aid, and mentoring programs so that they are more effective at spreading hope? I look forward to finding out.

Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

—
ROBERT F. KENNEDY, JUNE 6, 1966

The tiny ripple of hope you set in motion can change the path of someone’s life. It can make their future better.

You don’t have to take a big, bold action or raise a ton of money to spark change. You can start small. You merely need to create momentum where there was none.

Making ripples starts with you. You know that irksome feeling you get when you see a problem that no one is doing anything about? Or the pang you feel when someone is left behind by life? That’s where you start.

To spread hope, you have to get off the sidelines. Sure, you can influence people and events from a distance, but starting a ripple of hope requires some action, some force. Here is what you need to do:

Catch yourself thinking or saying “I wish someone would do something about that” or “I wish that problem would go away” or “I wish that person would catch a break.” Turning that wish into hope starts a ripple.

Recruit one or more friends to help you define and address the problem. You may need to borrow their hope when confronting the issue. You will give each other energy as you develop your plan.

Make one visible change that addresses the problem. Ripples of hope stand out. They grab attention. They inspire others to start ripples of their own.

Create a ripple of hope in your home, school, business, or community. At the very least, tell your own story of hope. You will find people who want to hear that things can be better, that we can be more, that our lives can be lived for greater meaning.

S
INCE THE LATE 1990S
these two hope scales have been used by hope researchers around the world. The Adult Trait Hope Scale is given to people fifteen years old and older. The Children’s Hope Scale is used with children eight to fourteen years of age.

The Adult Trait Hope Scale

Directions:
Read each item carefully. Using the scale shown below, please select the number that best describes
you
and put that number in the blank provided.

1 = Definitely

False

2 = Mostly

False

3 = Somewhat

False

4 = Slightly

False

5 = Slightly

True

6 = Somewhat

True

7 = Mostly

True

8 = Definitely

True

___ 1. I can think of many ways to get out of a jam.

___ 2. I energetically pursue my goals.

___ 3. There are lots of ways around any problem.

___ 4. I can think of many ways to get the things in life that are most important to me.

___ 5. Even when others get discouraged, I know I can find a way to solve the problem.

___ 6. My past experiences have prepared me well for my future.

___ 7. I’ve been pretty successful in life.

___ 8. I meet the goals that I set for myself.

Scoring:
Tally 1, 3, 4, 5 for a Pathways score and 2, 6, 7, 8 for an Agency score. Add the Pathways and Agency scores to determine the Hope total score.

The Children’s Hope Scale

Directions:
The six sentences below describe how children think about themselves and how they do things in general. Read each sentence carefully. For each sentence, please think about how you are in most situations. Place a check inside the circle that describes
you
the best. For example, place a check (
) in the circle (
) above “None of the time,” if this describes you. Or, if you are this way “All of the time,” check this circle. Please answer every question by putting a check in one of the circles. There are no right or wrong answers.

1. I think I am doing pretty well.

None of the time

A little of the time

Some of the time

A lot of the time

Most of the time