Hope’s Light
By Eric T. Pratt
"And so it is, so it was, and
so it will ever be, "the despair railed on as it scratched the words onto
the heart's walls.
"Ahh,
but what if a change is made?" replied Hope, holding a candle to see in
the darkness.
The despair
scoffed at the tiny flame barely piercing the darkness as it looked over its
nose in a side glance, "You would change the heart? The mind? The power
which has brought everything to its current state of being?" the despair began.
"The
influence of the ones, nay the hundreds, nay the countless thousands who have
come before this one have forged this heart into what it is. Some have surrounded
this man's heart for ages, who continue to surround him, and will continuously
surround him."
The despair
floated over him with Hope and pointed down at him in half gestures. "Just
look at him! He has been melted with habits both for good and evil, but he will
only see the evil. The habits have been hardened, sharpened, and tried to last.
He believes himself to be so inadequate and proves it time and time again with
his inaction. With all this, I bury him in a pit dug by his hand."
The despair
paused and floated downwards, carried by its own weight as it gazed up at Hope,
who now looked far into the distance. Its raking growl spoke again in a volume
overheard by the heart with injured walls. "The time I have spent with
this heart, the influence of millions I have surrounded about him under my
power, and the power of his own damning habits… Do you really think that any
of this could be undone, reset, and this heart placed on a course of change?"
Hope considered
the tally of the heart's sins and shortcomings forged and hardened by the despair.
They were indeed a marvelous mountain that might never be scaled.
Hope's silence
gave gumption to the despair. "You can dwell there in the heart if you wish.
For the thing you offer can keep this man alive, this heart beating, long
enough to continue building what I have built for ages. But, know that your
power will be a dying candle to the darkness I have wrought here."
With that,
the despair continued to write its lies upon the heart's walls.
Hope looked
up, passed the despair, and focused into the man's essence. "The years you
have weighed on this heart are mere moments to the eternity where his soul will
soar without you."
The despair
stopped hearing the still small whisper echo with all the effect of a thunderbolt.
Searching for the words to say, the despair tried to begin again.
"You speak of the influence of
flawed individuals, but I tell you they are those spirits who have come before.
Their bells of strength from glorious times resound as loudly as their flaws.
Those who are here now are sent for his future. He will build them just as they
will build him. Each one is flawed, and somehow, a little God is found within
them all."
The despair took a step back.
"The habits which have been forged
have been recognized for the unholy broken sword that it is, and he has stoked
a fire within that heart and soul to tear down the old, and with that steal
determination, he will forge new habits for new times. He has built the skills
he is now using to harden, sharpen, and try skills that will break down the
wall of disbelief you have labored on these past years with your lies.
"His inadequacy has no
essence! Just as you see this now, he will soon see this!"
The despair was now further from
the heart than ever before. Hope stood between the heart and the failing
darkness. The candle Hope had brought in to pierce the darkness now blazed like
a torch.
"You may dwell here,"
Hope said to the despair, "but know that you will soon be evicted. Your
darkness cannot touch this light, and it will soon blaze forth to brighten out
your presence, destroy your influence, and end your destruction. He is a man
the creator has made with purpose and direction. See him soar!"
The despair realized the height of Hope's
presence and the brightness emanating from the torch he carried and then
grasped his insignificance as he shielded his face and tiny body from Hope's
brightness.
He sneered and began to fade away. "I may
someday be gone, but there will be others. Some are stronger than I. The times
are building my brothers and sisters into what they will be, and he might yet
tremble before them."
Hope smiled in the face of the despair,
"See you, what is now engraved upon this man's heart?"
The despair turned to see it.
"I AM STRONG ENOUGH TO
BECOME WHAT I WAS MEANT TO BE, FOR I KNOW WHO MADE ME AND WHAT I MUST BECOME."
The man's soul shined from his heart with the light of Hope's candle, and the despair shrank away into his diminishing shadows.
