Hope

Hope is played out against a deep blue sky, dark before the rays of sun bring the promise of a new day. The figures represent the cycle of life. A woman holds up her newborn child, who represents a new generation in whom we place our dreams. The young man in the prime of his life is bent over, laboring in the soil. Near him is a flourishing fruit tree in full bloom. His hope is knowing that he will reap what he sows. On another level, we must remember that our hope lies in respecting and caring for the earth. The elderly woman completes the cycle, but she is not a static member of this scheme. She represents the universal grandmother who has laid the groundwork for us to sow our dreams. She carries compost in her wheelbarrow, showing that what dies does not end, but becomes the basic elements needed for new life. In the same light, the pinnacle of symbolic hope in the Christian tradition is the lamb. Amid darkness is the sun, or the Son of the world, who sacrifices himself as the pure lamb in order that we may have the essence of hope.

Bessie Gamble, a Bridge for Success student, spoke about the "Hope" panel. She chose to read Emily Dickinson's poem No. 254:

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without
the words
And never stops - at all
And sweetness - in the gale - is heard
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm
I've heard it in the chilliest land
And on the strangest sea
Yet never an extremity
It asked a crumb of me