Students at the Miguel Hidalgo elementary school wave Mexico's flag as they practice for an Independence Day parade in Tijuana, Mexico, Sept. 13, 2012. Mexico's Catholic bishops called for an overhaul of the country's education system, saying in pastoral letter released Sept. 12, 2012, that the national teachers' union and its leader put politics and other issues ahead of teaching children. (CNS photo/David Maung)
by GSR Staff
"Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously heading for success, but, rather, an ability to work for something that is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed. The more unpropitious the situation in which we demonstrate hope, the deeper the hope is. Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism."
- Václav Havel in Disturbing the Peace: A conversation with Karel Hvížďala, originally published 1986. Also available in The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A citizen’s guide to hope in a time of fear by Paul Rogat Loeb, (Basic Books, 2004). Cited from longer selection at Entersection.com.
[September 16 is Mexican Independence Day, commemorating the 1810 declaration of open revolt against Spanish colonial rule made by Fr. Miguel Hildalgo y Costilla from the pulpit of his church in Dolores.]