my hopes for hope

I watched The Duchess a couple nights ago and it made me sad, to say the least. Georgiana endured so much more than I can even fathom. And I wanted to pray for her afterward. But how does one pray for a thing that's passed? What could I say for this long dead woman for whom I wish so much? The most I came up with was to pray for hope in the details of her life not known. That there was some secret joy or comfort that was afforded to her. I prayed that she could have known, somehow, that people then and now are rooting for her.

I wish I wasn't helpless to people that have suffered. People who lived out their lives and for whom circumstances never improved. I wish I could have some hand in the lives of those who were never checked on by the people that should have cared for them. I wish I could hold the hand of everyone who has ever forgotten what hope feels like. I wish I could hold the hand of and 18th century widow, the hand of a slave, the hand of a sick person. But I don't know how that could ever happen.

This is what moves me: the spreading of HOPE. The proving of humanity. And this is why I will never stop loving, in any direction. I want to share goodness with the world. I want to exhaust goodness. I want to meet the world in an embrace and show children in Iraq and in the UK and in Uganda that they are my brothers and sisters. I want to sit with a stranger on a bench and ask, "What happened?" and just listen until he runs out of things to say, dreams to describe, passions to uncover, and pains to reconcile.

I want to be what the world needs most. I want to write charity in my countenance.