The Value of Hope

"What most people need to learn in life is how to love people and use things instead of using people and loving things." – Unknown

I mentioned in one of my earliest posts, MacGyver Ready, that

“I have seen some versions of the Rule of Threes, that include an extra line: you can only live for 3 months without hope. Hope and preparedness work well together. If you are prepared, you'll have reason to be hopeful. If you're of the right frame of mind and have the right skills, you will be better prepared.”

My mother-in-law fought breast cancer for many years in the 70’s and 80’s. She tried everything: veganism, wheat grass, spiritualism, laetrile, etc. She lived a very active life and beat the odds for nearly two decades driven by hope and stubbornness. But then one day she received some very negative test results from a doctor. She came home and told her daughter that she was giving up the fight. She died not long after.

Both of my mother’s parents lived into their 90’s despite poor health. We believe that it was stubbornness and love that kept my grandparents alive – neither wanted to be the first to die and leave their spouse of nearly 70 years to survive alone.

The reason I bring this topic up today is a recent story about the suicide of the world’s 94th richest man, Adolf Merckle, of Germany. In 2008 Forbes Magazine estimated Mr. Merckle’s fortune at $9.2 billion. But speculation in Volkswagen stock cost him in the “low hundreds of millions.” His family said in a statement, “The distress to his firms caused by the financial crisis and the related uncertainties of recent weeks, along with the helplessness of no longer being able to handle the situation, broke the passionate family businessman, and he ended his life.”

Bottom Line

Money does not buy happiness or hope. My father’s mother was one of the happiest, most up-beat persons I’ve ever met. She was never wealthy and lived for many decades in a trailer house and then a retirement apartment. She surrounded herself with slogans like “Smile, God Loves You” and she believed in the slogans.
Life is what you make of it. A life spent chasing money & fame can be very poor (think Citizen Kane). A life filled with hope and love and friends can be very rich.