I really want to be hopeful, but I find myself these days putting more faith in courage than in hope.

Hope without a solid base is often wishful thinking—an escape from reality rather than an acknowledgement of it that is the first step in problem solving. 

Hope, for me, must be grounded in something real—like the courageous actions of those willing to risk their careers, reputations, or even freedom for the common good.

History shows us this kind of courage: World War II resistance fighters, the Civil Rights demonstrators brutally beaten on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965, the lone man who stood against a column of tanks in Tiananmen Square in 1989. 

We see it, too, in the present day—in Epstein’s victims demanding justice, in CDC officials refusing to bend science to ideology, and in countless whistleblowers and everyday resisters whose names we may never know who risk everything for what is right.

The alternatives—despair (“nothing can be done”), denial (“no problem”), or naïve optimism (“it will all work out”)—are forms of surrender that enable tyranny.

While individuals acting alone can shift the course of history, the most significant and lasting change happens when that courage inspires collective action. Someone stands, and others stand with them.

So, yes, I want to be hopeful because it gives direction to whatever courage I can summon. But today, I put my faith in courage because it gives substance to that hope.

What courageous acts inspire you and give you hope?