In an age of political, ecological and social strain, hope is often mistaken for denial. But real hope is neither passive nor naïve – it is a choice to keep acting, even without guarantees.

Hope is not optimism. Optimism assumes things will turn out fine; hope understands they might not – and insists we keep working anyway. Hope is not a mood or a posture; it is a discipline, a daily rehearsal of the future we refuse to surrender.

It is easy to confuse hope with denial in difficult times. We live in an era of fraying certainties: democracies wobble, ecologies collapse, economies strain, and powerful interests offer distraction instead of direction. To speak of........

© Pearls and Irritations