It is crazy to think that a year ago today I had surgery to fix the wound that plagued my life for almost a year. Ever since that fateful day luckily, things have been going pretty smoothly and I hope it continues that way. Looking back it is hard to imagine going through what I did, but typically people do what needs to be done in order to get better and move on with their lives.
I recently was talking with my neighbor’s mother-in-law who just got over cancer. She and I were discussing our struggles over the past year, and we both questioned, “If we knew how bad things were going to be, would we really go through it again?” I think this is a fascinating question because when you are dealing with a serious issue, what keeps you going is “hope” in the fact that things might get better sooner than later.
The Shawshank Redemption one of the greatest films ever made focuses on this theme of “hope” in how prisoners facing life sentences, dream of a world without concrete walls and bars. This draws significant similarities to being in the hospital, as you are stuck in bed, hooked up to monitors and you can just stare out the window watching the world go bye in “hope” that you too will rejoin society one day.
Overall, “hope” can be a good or a bad thing, but if you take it one day at a time whether you are fighting a serious disease, a broken bone or just a cold, “hope” cannot be taken away from you, it is stuck within you, giving you reason to move forward. I guess deep down that is why I am still here fighting in “hope” that something comes of my life. Even if the outcome does not work in your favor, Andy Dufresne said it best, “Hope is a good thing. Maybe even the best of things and good things never die.”
If you would like to take a trip down memory lane check out When Life Gives You Lemons… and Better, But The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly. Other than that bonus points will be given to the first person who can name the film, the title references.
Trent McGee 