WREN Stories: Hope at such a time like this!

This month's WREN (Workforce Race Equality Network) Stories blog comes from Abimbola Wilson, Research Assistant and Vice Chair of WREN.

A time like this, full of uncertainties, where we’ve watched COVID rip apart families, economies, jobs, education, health systems, lifestyles, communities and essentially all we know to be “normal”. Suddenly the most powerful nations of the world are powerless; the wise become fools and the strongest appeared weak. It’s made a ridicule of wealth and riches. No race, age, nor status was spared. It has managed to affect everyone in one way or the other. It refocused us back to things that truly matter the most: love, humanity, care, empathy, compassion and “hope”. In the midst of all the chaos, worries, pain, exhaustion, frustration, anxiety and uncertainty – one thing that has remained unchanging is the position of “hope”.

I began to ponder more on the concept of hope. The more I pondered on it the more I began to appreciate what we have freely in it, irrespective of one’s background, status, race, sexuality, ability or inability.

The past year has thrown a lot on us, not just as individuals, families, and organisations but as a nation. There has been a lot of attention on racial injustices and unlawful killings around the world, chaos within the education system. One thing that has remained constant is how we are holding on to hope, knowingly or unknowingly, in unprecedented and difficult situations; we somehow turn to hope. There is something about it that helps us to get by. By this I don’t mean that there is an immediate change in whatever situation we are dealing with, but hope has a way of helping us to endure hard times until an outcome is reached (whatever that turns out to be).

For those whose loved ones are fighting for their lives from COVID-19, hope is what they have to hold on to. They can only hope that their loved ones will make it alive. Even when things do not go as they had hoped, hope is what they turn to again at the time of their loss, hoping that their loved one will find peace and rest; that those left behind will be safe and be strong together.

For all the amazing individuals who have put their lives on the line for others, they are hoping there will be an end to the terrible reign of the virus – hoping they can do the job they love without having to deal with the constant anxiety of what they might contract and take back home to their love ones. For the managers, they are hoping that those they manage will be safe and well, when colleagues are tired and morale is low – they hope to be able to find the right words to encourage and reassure their staff.

Whatever the circumstance, I believe that there is hope available to help us get through. We can always reach out for it, even at the darkest moments of our lives, when nothing seems to be working or making any sense, even when we don’t feel like it, when everything else seems to fail, in those moments, there is still “HOPE”.

Although, hope is sometimes used in a very casual way but at “such a time like this” when the sense of hopelessness is touching everything around us, it is important for us to remind ourselves the place of hope in humanity and in living. There will always be tough and difficult times – if it’s not COVID, it will be something else and so the question is what do we have in such moments? Well, we have hope. Even when we feel too overwhelmed to sense it, it’s always there.

I am an African, like many of us these times have been very difficult for me and my family. We have close relatives back in Africa and there have been many overwhelming moments of fear and anxiety, worries about what havoc COVID-19 could cause over there. Worries about something terrible happening to any of our loved ones or to us during this period, concerns we might not be able to see them, touch them or worse be able to pay last respect in case the worst happened. There is a feeling of helplessness around those thoughts but I know that there is something to hang on to and it is hope.

Well, I know this has been a very difficult, stressful and very challenging time for us all. I might not know what your exact circumstance is or what is giving you that sense of hopelessness. I can only encourage you to breathe again and reach deep down. There is a way out of hopelessness into hopefulness – be encouraged and reach out to HOPE.

The vaccine offers hope out of this pandemic. I have had my first dose and when I get invited for the second dose, I will go and get it.

Let us keep looking out for each other, caring and supporting each other, showing empathy, compassion, love and consideration for one another and let us hope that one day we will all find the answer we are looking for.

I have hope that things will get better.