"The Value of Hope" (Feb. 2009)

The backdrop changes with each announcement, but the message is remarkably consistent. Downsizing, retooling, layoffs, closings – use whatever labels their company attaches to them, but the announcements each week that thousands more Americans are getting thrown a serious curveball in their journey through life are all too commonplace.

There is no doubt that we are in extended period of economic darkness and facing some serious uncertainty ahead. And yet, against all of this, there is a stubborn, persistent optimism that things are going to change for the better, and soon. Much of this is of course driven by the historic inauguration of a new American president, even amongst many who did not vote for him and do not share his views. But there seems something deeper than that to me – perhaps President Obama has been a catalyst for it, or perhaps he is simply tapping into something we ourselves as a people have held throughout our history.

In his inaugural address he mentioned the bleak midwinter that followed the Declaration of Independence. During that first winter before our nation was yet a year old, General George Washington and his ragtag band of farmer patriots were holed up in desperate cold and deprivation at Valley Forge. The British controlling Philadelphia were so confident of crushing the insurrection against their Empire that they could wait for warmer weather to finish the fight. Through the power of hard work, and especially the infinite value of hope, Washington’s huddled miserable masses molded themselves into a potent fighting force. While that war dragged on through brilliant successes and miserable defeats for four more winters, Valley Forge marked a watershed in American resolve as well as the military campaign.

I found myself at Valley Forge on a brilliant autumn day a few weeks after the horrors of Sept. 11th. And I too, found comfort and hope in the lessons learned and the stories told on that suffering ground. We have been in dire straits before. It is in our character as a country to find something larger in ourselves at times like these.

The debate rages on now about a plan to infuse the economy with nearly a trillion dollars in a plethora of ways big and small (how many piles of Franklins IS that anyway?). While there are well-reasoned positions to be had across the spectrum in how to apportion those dollars and when, what they really represent is a value of hope. Hope that a well-done plan will stem the tide of despair rising like a storm surge into our homes. Hope that we can retool many things in our lives that are broken or obsolete. Hope that by our suffering and sacrifice now we might improve the lives of those who follow.

While there are many who think that aspects of this plan, and perhaps the bulk of it, are wrongly directed, I have no doubt that all but the harshest critics are still harboring their own quietly held hopes, that something – anything – can turn back the tide.

I have often been inspired by the travels and experiences of Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and other folk troubadours somehow managing to make a living by singing for those drowning in hard times. Be where the suffering is and you'll be where you're needed most, and somehow or other you'll be fed and kept safe.

So, I will spend five days of this tour doing concerts and visiting communities along the Gulf Coast – too short a time already to accept all the invitations and to witness all that I should. But for a part of America still deeply mired in a long journey to recovery, I feel that I must see and do all that I can. My camera, guitar and notebook are at the ready, and I hope that I can bring you some firsthand accounts of how the seeds of hope are sprouting, though they may grow slowly in the hurricane muck.

I hope one day soon I can return to chronicling in this space the more mundane aspects of rural living and the lessons I stumble across. These are amazing times indeed. Times I never dreamed I would see, and frankly wish I didn’t have to. The America that our children will inherit from us is likely to be quite different than the spectacular and colossal collapse that we have witnessed, but perhaps because of that, theirs will be on firmer footing. This I do believe; that the foundation that we and they will build upon was laid in far more perilous circumstances, by men who dreamed and suffered and believed, and while low on food, ammunition, clothing and about everything else, made one heck of a down payment of hope.

May you find your glass of hope at least half full.