Hope: The Shawshank Redemption

 ‘Hope is a good thing, and good things never die’: The Shawshank Redemption.

I had never come around to watch ‘The Shawshank Redemption’. Of all the wonderful movies, I have ever seen, I never understood why I never sat down earnestly to watch this one. And now that I have watched it, I think I’ll be mesmerized for a long, long time.

There are always movies that would hit you, leave a dent irreparable, motivated to conquer something in this world. However, have you actually wondered, how many movies you see got you moved, ready to take on the world. Be the change you have always wanted to be or more importantly, changed something you have always pledged yourself to do.

But then life isn’t just about changes, right? Had changes been so easy wouldn’t we be the perfect copies of each other, successful in the quanta’s of success as we define it, perfect as we measure it?

Change is a very elaborate process. It doesn’t come with a ‘thirty minute guarantee’ like our pizzas or a fifteen day trail pack like the fairness creams. It grows into us slowly as we pick traits from the environment, it takes cues from the experience and  we travel the road we had taken. It might come from the incidents that move you, small deeds and actions that might bring a whole lot of perspective in our life.

Irrespective of how our life shapes itself or how many changes we think it requires, we always possess something is a source of our happiness; something that we call our own- our own dreams, our own people, our own anything. These might be perceptible or be a part of subtle background, but they are ours, they are our own hopes.

We might have the perfect person in our life or the correct set of friends as we desire. At the risk of sounding clichéd, I might call it love. Has it ever occurred to you, that you forget how strong the bond is? We tend to move ahead of it and we believe that love has happily deserted us.

But do we actually stop, stand our ground and think for a while. Besieged by problems, troubled by the mention of problems, we give up on those very things that define. We believe that it wasn’t meant to be and we should look for other ways that might contain us.

We believe that love has given up on us, but has it? Have we given up on love? We have given up on something rather more important, that is – HOPE!

For others like me, we find happiness in our dreams. In the darkest hours of night, I am sure my dreams leave a smile on my face. Because, somewhere deep inside them, I find what I have always looked for- my reasons to reach the state of blessitude.

But the worst hours are the ones that come after that, the mornings. It is the time when we decide to give up on those very reasons that pierce through our heart.

We for no reason, presume that things can’t be the way we have always wanted. We suck ourselves into the vicious circle of karma again, the monotony of the day, too afraid to step out and venture in the world of our contentment- the world of our hope!

We kill our dreams, the way we killed our love, our people (metaphorically!), because we weren’t strong enough to believe in ourselves. We talk about standing to people, facing the world with held high but instead, we are afraid to face ourselves. How many of us would look in the mirror and proudly say that whatever we involve ourselves in, we are proud of it? I speak for myself, I cannot.

And if we cannot, we exhibit cowardice. We are the ones who are too afraid to do what they know might be right. The ones who would refuse to follow their heart because their hope couldn’t find strength in its belief.

Life is simple, uncluttered and awarding. All it requires is us to have strength and to be truthful to ourselves. All it requires us is to have hope.

All it requires from you, is to believe in your belief’s which you know are right. Believe in your happiness.  For once, try not to mix your brain and your heart. If you know what your heart has always wanted, take the plunge and go for it. Your mind would follow on its own.

If you are one of those readers, who are heartbroken or miss the person you have always loved- wait for him, talk to him or tell him how you feel. If the love of your life is the one in front of you, build your life around him. Have hope in your love and be proud of the fact that you have someone you can mould your life around.

If you are like me, who believes in a dream but are not just motivated enough to go for it, then think of the mirror which you’ll face in twenty years from now. Would you be able to look in the mirror and answer the question with confidence when you are asked that have you’ve achieved everything you’d aspired for?

Don’t let your hopes crumble because hopes give direction to your life. Hope’s lead you to your heart’s strongest feelings, your loved ones or the happiness that you have always wished for.  If you have set a goal for yourself, respect it, think about it and move forward to achieve it.

And if it’s right, you’ll never be lost.

And if you are never lost, maybe you’ll be one step closer to perfection.