Hi folks and welcome to my Friday Reflection for 26th July 2024.
I’ve been reflecting on history and how we carry it individually and collectively. In the last reflection, I tried to acknowledge that we necessarily cope with the heartaches of history. This is part 2 and focuses on hope.
There are powerful stories of hope in our histories. We have tales of people and moments that stand out as valuable reminders of strength, hope, and resilience. Because of those moments, those people, and their stories we are here to continue their legacy.
While in Oxford at the Global Convening for the Atlantic Fellows I was privileged to hear some of those types of stories. People paid homage and commemorative reverence to significant peoples and moments that made it possible for us to gather as an international community.
I heard stories of powerful reconnections with ancestors from over hundreds of years ago, to just under 40 years ago. People are now empowering themselves and others through their embrace of stories of hope in our histories.
These stories are evidence of hope. They are like witness or impact statements for how hope is in our histories. It is there for us to cultivate and curate into our present narratives.
I encourage you to hold your histories as having both heartache and hope. The heartache means we care deeply. The hope means we can change fundamentally.
Be encouraged and encourage others.
Mark YP
