Hope – A Seed of Excellence

Posted September 14th, 2006

“Dum spiro, spero. As long as I breathe, I hope.” That Latin proverb emphasizes the importance of hope. At the Kids’ Philosophy Slam, the question posed to the children was, “Which is more powerful, fear or hope?” Elsie, an eight-year old, replied, “Hope is like a gentle breeze, and fear is an icy, biting wind.” (Source: Utne, Sep-Oct, 2006)

How do we provide hope for Elsie? When I was a child, we lived for a time in Hopeful, Georgia. I sometimes wonder if the people who first settled there had come from a place of fear, looking for a new start in a place where hope could thrive. I’ve passed through Hopeful, Georgia many times since my childhood, and the words on the sign help me be more hopeful. We need reminders to remain hopeful, since the world is filled with things that cause fear.

I read a brief editorial in The Wall Street Journal recently. It speaks of Naguib Mahfouz, who was stabbed in the neck in 1994 by someone who took offense at a religious allegory Mahfouz had written forty years earlier. He said, “It became apparent to me that between me and death there was censure, but that I was condemned to hope. Mahfouz died recently, of natural causes, at age 94. We need people who remind us that we should remain hopeful, even though there are many reminders of censure.

I believe hope is a seed of excellence is because excellence in life and operational excellence in pipelines will never be achieved unless someone or some people provide a message of hope. That does not mean one can just hope, and not do anything to improve. Hope provides the starting point in getting started on the road to excellence. A person filled with despair, disenchantment, and fear can get stuck, wring one’s hands, and gnash one’s teeth. The same is true for an organization.

When someone, filled with hope, believes that life can be better and begins working to make it better, then that seed can be sowed along the path that is taken. As hope flourishes and excellence sprouts, fear does not seem so powerful. As long as I breathe, I hope. That’s neat!

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 14th, 2006 at 12:02 pm and is filed under Seeds of Excellence.