The Reason Hope Should Be Contagious Like A Virus

For One Hope You Spread, Numbers Of People and Years Are Cheered

Definitely! “Hope Always!” Hope is free; it doesn’t cost you anything. Hope saves lives. Hope brings smiles to generations to come. Hope is a better alternative for us than those buzzing about living on Mars ( is it or another planet? I don’t keep up with that news!)

I am an educator. The best thing to live a life in education is the honor to be around young minds who teach me “Hope.” Amid all the behaviors, not labeling them because they are humans and entitled to make mistakes and learn from life, the one striking message is, “See us with hope.” At least, that’s how I choose to interpret the different experiences I have with them.

Some of them are ready; some of them go around about. Some of them hide. Some of them show up. Some of them shrugged. Some of them nodded. Some of them throw chairs. Some of them sit on them. Some of them cried. Some of them say, “Leave me the hell alone!” Some smiled and giggled. Some of them proudly say I am a boy or a girl. Some of them say I am not sure; I’ll figure it out.

I don’t believe in labeling. I don’t let my students believe in labeling. Whether it’ll be ADHD, autism, dyslexic, learning disorder, or others. I believe in naming. I teach my students to believe in naming. Just like we all should be proud of our names, they need to be proud of their differences. Nothing to be ashamed of. They should know that we can always be better and at best with everything we have. Name it, own it, be proud of it, work within it, and the result is hope.

That’s my world, daily, for the past thirty-one years. My slogan is “UnlockAndShine.” That’s my definition of hope. The beauty of my life: knowing that I am unlocking young minds to shine. I willingly allow these young minds to unlock me and let me shine. We are sharing a “symbiotic” relationship.

That’s the reason I never am afraid of death. I will never die. The hope will keep me alive, just like dinosaurs. Dinosaurs give hope and joy to young children. They don’t go out of style; they are parts of children’s conversation and imagination. The journey of unlocking to shine lasts for generations to come.

I love this saying, and it says a lot about hope…

“To The World You May Be One Person, But To One Person You May Be The World.” ( Dr. Seuss)

An amazing story about a thirteen-year-old boy who wrote about his life…

“When I was small, I didn’t even know that I was a kid with special needs. How did I find out? By other people telling me that I was different from everyone else, and that this was a problem.”

“I’ve started imagining what it would be like if everyone was autistic. If autism was regarded simply as a personality type, things would be so much easier and happier for us than they are now. For sure, there are bad times when we cause a lot of hassle for other people, but what we really want is to be able to look toward a brighter future.”

“ Problem is, many children with autism don’t have the means to express themselves, and often even their own parents don’t have a clue what they might be thinking.”

“Then, to allow more independent communication, Mom invented the alphabet grid.”

“The alphabet grid isn’t just about putting together sentences; it’s about getting across to other people what I want and need them to understand.”

Those are the truthful voice of a thirteen-year-old boy, Naoki Higashida. He was diagnosed with severe autism at the age of five. With the help of his Mom and his teacher, he spoke, he communicated. He spread hope. “The Reason I Jump” is the name of the book. Accurate Title! For Naoki, to stand wasn’t enough. He jumped.

Hope makes you want to jump. Hope makes you want to speak. Hope makes you want to share. Hope makes you be more than one. It makes us whole.

A shattered dream could become, better yet, should become hope; memory is not always behind us; it could also be beside us. Joanne Olivieri “Pirouette Dreams”…

An emotional closet is messy, expectedly so. That’s where hope usually sprouts. Maybe we shouldn’t tidy it up too much. The hope might lose its place. A wonderful mind Sujona Chatterjee shares her hope….