I’m no philosopher…I’m no therapist…but I have enough life experience to know that hope is a choice.
I know that cancer patients who are given mere months to live often choose to hope rather than go willingly toward that somber destiny.
I know that many of the HIV-AIDS crisis victims and their loved ones chose to hope that enough people would see the inhumanity of the situation to spur some kind of change.
I know that “chronic Lyme disease” is a very serious immune deficiency disease, and despite the denial of this fact by just about everyone who has a duty to address it, I choose to hope that science will prevail and people will get the help they need.
Hope is a familiar theme in the Lyme world. In many cases, it’s all people have left. They’ve been stripped of their dignity, on top of having spent their last cent on ineffective treatments. In our world, hope comes dressed in many disguises: this guru or that one; this book or that protocol; this nonprofit with the big gala, or the one with “big data.”
I choose to derive hope not from these intangible promises of healing, but from something entirely tangible: scientific rigor.
It’s simple, actually. Science has explained the disease mechanism, and has demonstrated it in multiple parallels–which is a requirement of the scientific method. Spirochetes stealth-bomb the immune system with fungal gunk from their outer surface. It’s a model that repeats with other types of infections. Scientific fact. We know that “chronic Lyme” is post-sepsis; therefore we know the right questions to ask in seeking validation and cures.
A dear friend recently told me, “You are great at everything you do.” It was a wonderful compliment, but the caveat is that I’m great at what I choose to do. I have been at death’s door; I have been bankrupt and on the verge of homelessness. I have been through the Lyme wringer, and I have learned that “chronic Lyme” scientifically, factually, sucks even worse than we were all told. Still, I choose to hope that reality can be catching. I choose to hope, and I choose to be an absolute freaking expert at hoping.
To me, only truth bears hope. Truth is raw, distasteful, sometimes shocking, and can even be dispiriting, at first. But it doesn’t wear disguises, doesn’t make false promises, and doesn’t cost a thing.
We all have the power to choose hope, and we all have the free will to choose what to hope for.
Hope well, my friends.
May we all be blessed this holiday season with a sense of peace, a few moments of joy, and the will to hope for better times for all of us.
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If you or a loved one are having thoughts of suicide, PLEASE seek help from a licensed professional. https://www.helpguide.org/articles/suicide-prevention/suicide-prevention.htm
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