Hope is a Four Letter Word
By Huma Yasin
Huma Yasin is an author and attorney working in a social justice nonprofit.
2020 was nothing like what I’d envisioned it would be. This was the year I’d turn 40, a decade and a half of pregnancies, nursing through the night, hospital visits with children, and the like were behind me.
I’d finally have a publishing deal for the book I’ve spent years researching and writing. I’d launch my second career in providing legal access to low-income people who had either found themselves trapped in the criminal justice system or were barely treading water in the civil justice system.
It was supposed to be the year to say no to looming mid-life crisis, to look in hindsight with joy and ahead with anticipation.
COVID-19 hit. Nothing went as planned.
Balancing four kids’ remote learning, working, all the while trying to maintain a semblance of sanity in social isolation in a world that was both literally and figuratively on fire, often felt suffocating.
And yet, miraculously, hope unfailingly resurrects the will to both survive and thrive despite the state of the world.
My advocacy has consistently focused on the most vulnerable and destitute populations, people deemed collateral damage of a “civilized society.” What is it, if not hope, that spurns me to continue?
It’s not just me – it’s so many of us operating in a collective. In spite of the odds, collectively, we march, protest, rally, write letters, demand policy changes, and work towards a more just world.
Hope is a four-letter word but it's also the air we breathe to stay afloat.
Yes, 2020 isn’t quite what any of us expected. But hope is what will continue to power our action to ensure that our vision of equality and justice will indeed manifest.
Huma Yasin is an author and attorney working in a nonprofit organization. Twitter: @htyasin; https://www.humayasin.com
““My advocacy has consistently focused on the most vulnerable and destitute populations, people deemed collateral damage of a ‘civilized society.’ What is it, if not hope, that spurns me to continue? “-@htyasin, author, attorney #PowerToChangeStories @takeleadwomen ”