"I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end." ("The Diary of a Young Girl" also known as "The Diary of Anne Frank") - What is the power of hope and belief in a more favourable future?
Agnieszka Grochowska - 13.11.2018 @ 17:34
The three of us, Caro, Anastasia and Marei from Buxtehude, thought about the question, where the people take their hope from to not give up.
Hope, a lifeline
by Anastasia Sobol, Marei Behrens, Carolin Feindt, HPS Buxtehude/Germany
„I feel with the suffering of millions of people. But when I look up into the sky I feel that everything is going to turn out well. “(„Anne Frank Tagebuch”)
- Wie groß ist die Hoffnung darauf und der Glauben daran, dass sich die Zukunft als gnädig erweisen wird?
A difficult question. We think it is meant like this: How strong can your hope and faith in a better future be? Where do you find hope and faith when you are in a desperate situation?
However, Anne Frank, a young girl who was persecuted and in the end killed under the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler, always felt hope. She saw people suffering and in desperation but never stopped believing in the good. Where did she take all her faith and hope from and how can we cope with difficult situations nowadays in desperate times?
First of all, the meaning of „desperate times“ is different for everyone. We are not in the situation of Anne Frank and desperation depends on your living standards. We can only imagine what made people not give up.
It is possible that for some people the hope and belief, for example in God, was the reason, which prevented them from drowning in the sea of desperation.
An alternative is thinking about all the things you have and want to do. For example if you once promised something to someone which you cannot and do not want to break because so many emotions are connected to it.
Hope can also be the base of a strong will to survive. Especially in a pointless situation when there is no certainty and the aim seems unattainable, then the aspiration and hope for a better future is the only assurance to fight for the life you have always dreamed of.
So hope gives people a reason to fight, but also to dream.
Sometimes, you are at the point of seeing no sense in anything anymore. You are ready to give up your goals, dreams and hope. You are ready to drown in an ocean of one-sidedness only to escape the horrible perspectives.
Some people give up themselves. But some people take the bad things as an incentive to stand up and fight on with the hope to defeat bad things and the thought to have experienced too much to just give up.
In the end, you can say that hope gives us courage and animates us. And Anna Frank, who once wrote in her diary: „It is really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all my hopes, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. “(Diary entry, 15.Juli 1944), is a good example of never losing your hope even when the situation seems desperate.
Marei Behrens - 14.11.2018 @ 16:12
I truly agree with your text. Hope is a lifeline for us humans. In difficult times the only thing that keeps us from loosing ourselves is hope. Whether it's hope in people, religion or other things, it still comforts us, just as it did Anne Frank. Really good text with a great message!
Maria Oguz - 29.11.2018 @ 11:32
Hi Anastasia, Marei and Carolin. I was moved by your text, especially the sentence: ,, Some people give up themselves". I've never thought in this way before. Thank you for making me realize that the situation and circumstances are never the justification of your surrender. Your life depends on you. We need to be more like Anne Frank. Some things you can't change, but everything is different when it comes to your attitude. The girl stayed hopeful, so why can't we? I dare to say, that finding hope is the most crucial task in person's life. Thank you for your work.
Jagoda Wnęk - 02.01.2019 @ 17:14
I am very pleased that an article on this subject has been written. Nowadays, many young people, who are in a difficult situation, give up, do not want to fight for their future, think that it is not worth it. They are wrong. You always have to fight for your future, do not give up. You have to fight for yourself, for your future, for your dreams. If we surrender, we will never again be able to fight for ourselves. Even if the situation is hopeless, it is always worth trying. If we don't try, we'll have a grudge against each other why we didn't try. When we try and even fail, we will draw the right conclusions and come back stronger. To fight for yourself.
Jakub Stanek - 03.01.2019 @ 19:41
Hello Anastasia, Marei and Carolin!
In your article you presented cases in which hope saves man from trouble. The situation in which Anne Frank found herself during World War II seemed dramatic. But this hope helped her to survive this hard time. Of course nowadays there are no such extreme situations like in the case of Anne Frank. However, everyday problems also require perseverance from us and we can use the power of hope and belief in a better future, too.
Thank you for great article with universal message!
Joanna Stolarska - 04.01.2019 @ 20:59
Hi Anastasia, Marei and Carolin!
I really enjoyed reading your article. The way you described what hope or desperate times are is suggestive and makes readers interested in this topic. I am very enthusiastic about Anne Frank's story. As you wrote, she never lost her hope and good view to life. That was the only thing that helped her to survive for many years.
Our existence wouldn't make sense if we didn't have problems or troubles to fight. Therefor it's also important to have something that makes us think optimistically, and believe me - everybody is able to find that thing! Thanks for your thought-provoking work!
Julia Mahfud - 06.01.2019 @ 22:01
Dear Caro, Anastasia and Marei,
I am impressed with your writing, you have such a talent in writing. I couldn't agree more with your essay. Furthermore, I have to say that I am really touched. The sentence "So hope gives people a reason to fight, but also to dream." made me think about the fact that there is nothing to be ashamed of, when we aren't standing on the ground with two legs. This can lead us forward, even if we want to give up everything, which is important for us. But we can’t quit just because we had one bad day. We must go on and think about those days, which are worth living.
Hope can have many forms and shapes. Hope can be a mantra, hope can be a toy animal, and last but not least, hope can be a person who is there for us, no matter what happens. He/she can lend us a hand, and show us that life is beautiful, just the way it is. It can be beautiful if we have enough faith, enough hope to survive. Because life is more than just surviving. Life is hope.
Fruzsina Dávid - 07.01.2019 @ 19:59
Hi Anastasia,
I agree with your text.I thought the same way as you did and i think you have explain it very well.Thank you for great article with universal message!
Yours sincerely,
Melike Aksak - 11.01.2019 @ 20:49
I really enjoyed reading your article. And I believe that you are right. Hope is the lifeline that saves us from drowning.
But where does it come from? I think that we all carry hope with us all the time. Sometimes, however, we can't reach for it because it is hidden beneath a pile of problems. The burden we carry with us can get so heavy that we have the feeling we can't go on. Like you said, "desperate times" are different for everyone, but the suffering is always the same. In those times, we need someone or something that helps us find our hope again, a person we love or a place we feel at home. Because, even after we have lost everything, hope will remain.
Hope is the only thing stronger than fear. Suzanne Collins
Anja Leitner - 26.01.2019 @ 16:44
Hi Anastasia, Marei and Carolin,
Your article is great. I really enjoyed reading it and agree with you.
I think Anne Frank helped her strong hope in God. She thought God will turn everything into the good. We shoud never give up our hope because it's nearly the only thing we have in difficult times. If we give up our hopes we give up ourselves. But when we share them, they will grow.
Annalena Sieberer - 03.02.2019 @ 12:28
Hi Anastasia, Marei and Carolin,
I think your article is great. I Share your opinion about the topic and agree with your thoughts about Anne Frank‘s strength and hope. She must have been such an encouraging person.
I also liked your explaination about the different definitions of desperate times. I think it‘s true that our thoughts of rough situations depend on our life situation.
If we have a hard time we need someone who lifts us up again. That could be a friend, our family or even ourselfes, as in the case of Anne Frank. She gave herself a reason to fight and I think everyone should try to never lose hope, just as she did.
Johanna Holaubek - 07.02.2019 @ 15:10
Hey Anastasia, Marei, Carolin!
Thank you very much for your article! I really liked the quotes and references you chose, as well as the topic overall.
Hope is the saviour in our dark times. But I still know people who refuse to hope. Maybe because they are afraid to hope in vain and having to deal with disappointment. Or maybe because they are afraid of not having control and putting their trust in something or someone else. But sometimes, all you can do is hope.
Of course everyone is the architect of their own fortune. And you can't live your life dreaming and wandering around, hoping for the best. But some things just are the way they are and beyond our control.
Imagine somebody who is very important to you had a fatal car accident. They are in the hospital now, where they are being treated, but still there is this possibilty of them passing away. So the only thing you can do is hope. No matter if you trust in God, destiny, the medical professions or the wounded person.
Life has its ups and downs. Sometimes we can only hope for the next "up" to come when we're in the downfall but that's totally fine because the "up" is going to come sooner or later.
Nazli Yüksek - 25.02.2019 @ 23:27