Hope. It’s that feeling that the future will be favorable. That sense of comfort knowing whatever you are facing that it will be worked out. Throughout the past couple years, this emotion has gotten me through many many rough times. When I have multiple tests coming my way, when I have an uncertain future, and when my life seems out of my control hope has always been there.
My two favorite sources to cite for the importance of hope are Viktor Frankl’s Man Search for Meaning and Lil Wayne’s Let it All Work Out.
Frankl was a Jewish man who was sent to the Auschwitz during the Holocaust . He details his experiences being imprisoned and the observations he’s made in his book, “A Man’s Search for Meaning.” When I first read this two years ago the book resonated with me in a weird way. I wasn’t too interested in his exploration of the meaning of life, morality, and existential analysis. This was because I was scared of facing my own existential dread at the time, I was sixteen. Instead, I focused more on his message of hope and how that was what got him through the horrific pain he endured. He mentions how the hope that he would see his wife again got him through many days he felt like giving up. This resonated with me because I was going through a tough time then. I wasn’t doing well socially or academically in school, was going through the same cycle of bad habits, and felt like I was losing hope for what my future would be. This book was one of the core reasons I continue to keep hope in my heart. To make sure I don’t lose it and to always emphasize that whatever problems I’m facing I can get over it.
The next source I more recently discovered was the song “Let it All Work Out”, by Lil Wayne. A bit jarring I know, to go from Frankl to Wayne. However, this was a song that hit the same heartstrings in me that Frankl did. In this Hip-hop song Wayne, or Carter, details his experiences with stimulants, fatherhood, relationships, success, and mental health struggles. The last act of the song is a narration of his attempted suicide when he was only twelve. A heartbreaking story. He raps, about thinking of himself as a monster, not being able to be happy, and writing a suicide letter. He tries to call his aunt but hung up before he got an answer. No one was around to stop him. He then recalls the moment where he woke up with blood all round him. Recounting this experience in an interview, he talks about his mental health struggles and his road from that. The verse narrating his suicide is immediately followed by the chorus, “Let it all work out.” Wayne here is following up with his wisdom from the present. His past struggles where he lost hope, and where he felt he had to end it all were very real, but after some time those troubles came to pass. To have hope that whatever tests or obstacles one is facing that life has a way to work itself out. That all one needs to know is that it will, and believe that it will be alright. That’s why I love hope. Because it’s often the only thing we can have and its the only thing that can get us through our lowest points.
Second act of Let it All Work Out – Lil Wayne
“Tunechi, you a monster
Looked in the mirror
But you wasn’t there, I couldn’t find ya
I’m lookin’ for that big, old smile, full of diamonds
Instead, I found this letter you ain’t finished writin’
It read, “I’m sorry for even apologizing”
I tried, compromising and went kamikaze
I found my momma’s pistol where she always hide it
I cry, put it to my head and thought about it
Nobody was home to stop me, so I called my auntie
Hung up, then put the gun up to my heart and pondered
Too much was on my conscience to be smart about it
Too torn apart about it, I aim where my heart was pounding
I shot it, and I woke up with blood all around me
It’s mine, I didn’t die, but as I was dying
God, came to my side and we talked about it
He sold me another life and he made a profit/prophet” – Lil Wayne
