Admittedly, I made a mistake. It was just a few weeks ago and I broke my own rule against reading any news other than what is local. I love knowing what’s going on right here where I live. After all, many of the people and places and events that are being discussed are near and dear to my heart.

National and international news? Not so much. Beyond exercising my right to vote and tut-tutting, I find that keeping up with the greater world is exhausting, frustrating, and beyond the scope of my aged capacity. And then… I mistakenly read that the United States, of all the nations in the world, voted “no” on hope. Yes! America was the only country at the United Nations to vote against a resolution declaring an International Day of Hope.

Ours (and I use the term loosely) was also the only no vote against a resolution titled “Education for Democracy,” which reaffirms “the right of everyone to education” and recognizes “the importance of equal opportunities for young people, women.” And why was I not surprised that “we” (again a word loosely used) were also the only country to vote no on the resolution for the “International Day for Judicial Well-Being.”

Feeling alien on planet Earth

All that negativity (and more which I quit reading about when I regained my senses) took place on March 4 — not quite a month ago today.  Here we were, squelching our way toward spring and bright renewal of all the Earth’s beauty and possibilities while our “leadership” was saying no to hope and no to education and, apparently, no to democracy. That I felt gobsmacked doesn’t half express it.

Hope, like love, is a theme that has manifested itself in the philosophies and religions and artwork and thought processes of humans from pre-history. I think of hope as part of the human condition, and I’m more than a little mystified that “The Powers That Be” feel that they can vote “no” on it. I wonder how many spring blossoms and baby chicks and starry-eyed lovers will get the message.

For that matter, I can’t think we really need an “International Day of Hope.” Isn’t hope part and parcel of our very existence? But, apparently, declaring International Days is a Big Deal at United Nations Assemblies. So far (and counting) they have declared 218 of them, including observances for everything from bicycles to football to oceans to happiness. They are considered an important “advocacy tool,” which sounds a lot like junior high pep rally stuff to me.

‘Hope springs eternal…’

Fortunately, I don’t really think that the average man in the street — a U.S. street, a Ukrainian street, or even a jungle path — knows or gives a rip what any organization has to say about hope. Watch a toddler about to take her first step. Her eyes are full of hope. Kiss a loved one who is being rolled into the operating and stand a minute as those double doors close you out. Your heart is full of hope.

I’ll never forget my first trip out to see the chickens after bringing Nyel-the-Chicken-Whisperer home from a prolonged hospital stay. Mrs. Broody Hen waddled out to meet me and lifted one wing to reveal a still damp-looking chick. What’s more, she let me take it into the house to meet Farmer Nyel! There was hope and more in her gesture and resolutions be damned!

So here we are at Spring 2025. This year has already been too cold, too stormy, too full of negativity. Bring on the sun! Bring out the smiles! And for heaven’s sake, remember that “hope springs eternal” no matter who might try to vote against it!