I have, at times, been scornful of the idea of "hope" -- which my academic ironic sensibilities held up as an illusion that less
enlightened people cling to, kinda like the traditional idea of God I learned in Sunday School. But as I have gotten through the last few years, I have come back to an appreciation of hope. I now know why people live on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius, on
fault lines, and in flood plains and go about their every day lives as if the earth or its waters might not wipe them out at any moment. No matter where we live, something is always hidden underneath the calm surface of things, and if we live in anticipation of the earth breaking open, we never live.

So, going on with life despite the threat is hope -- not hope that the bad things will never happen, because they will, but knowing that in spite of them, living those every day moments in between is worthwhile. To me, that is hope.