Response to the Person Without Hope

It was one of those perfect mornings ... no wind, warm sun, blue skies and horses and riders on the beach to entertain flocks of photographers from two local photo clubs.  It's hard to imagine a more beautiful ... or a more hopeful day.  


Yet, when I returned to my car, there was a small, hand-written note taped to my door.  It read:

No, I don't have hope.  In the most evil, dishonest, corrupt and traitorous president and administration I have seen in my life.

And I have no hope in fools who cannot tell their left hand from their right hand.  "There are none so blind as those who refuse to see."

I have hope that soon you leftist communists will be no more and the world will not have to suffer under your lies and oppression.

I don't know who left the note but I've made some assumptions in my response to her, although I know there is virtually no possibility that she will ever see it.

Dear Without Hope:

You sound like a well-educated person whose life has not gone the way you wished or expected.  I am truly sorry that on this glorious day, on this beautiful beach, in this amazing country, you feel no hope.  If we were to meet in person, I would listen to your story and perhaps understand how our country has so disappointed and angered you.  

Somewhere in our past a great divide opened up among our people, a divide that has broken trust and dissolved our faith in our ability to work together for the common good of all.  We no longer think of ourselves as Americans one and all, us ... US ... the U.S. ... the United States ... but rather subdivisions of rightness or wrongness ... "they."  

"They" are Republicans, Democrats, liberals, conservatives, Tea Partiers, radicals, communists, fascists ... "they" are evil, stupid, corrupt, and tellers of lies.  It breaks my heart that, even though we have never laid eyes on each other, we cannot see ourselves as fellow citizens of a great country, citizens who might have differences of opinion but share a common heritage, culture and future.  It breaks my heart that so many of us have lost hope.

So, while we will not meet in person, I will hold hope for you, for me, for the rest of the people in our country and the world around us ... and for the common future that binds us all together.  May blessings come to us all.

The offending bumper sticker: