The #WATWB August Edition: On Hope & the Worthiness of the Effort It Takes

Photo by Berlian Khatulistiwa (Unsplash). Typography by Guilie Castillo.

It's been a hard couple of months, and it hasn't been easy to focus on the positive. Last month, in fact, I found it impossible (one of our dogs died). And then the drama with North Korea started. The situation in Venezuela got much, much worse (Curaçao is like 75 km off the VEN coast)—including a threat of military action from the US and, just yesterday, new financial sanctions. And then there's that spate of white supremacist rallies and demonstrations wreaking havoc in the US.

Is it any wonder that I'm still struggling to find the light? Maybe not. But I have a choice, don't I? I can allow myself to sink into the darkness, to lose the fragile hold I have on hope, to give in to despair. Or... I can make an effort. Grasp that hope tighter. Feed my strength with the superfood of finding the good in the world.

Which is why the We Are The World blogfest, a monthly event that seeks to spotlight the good stories, the positive outcomes, the reasons for hope, is all the more important. And important, too, that I—that all of us—make the effort to find those stories.

Those outcomes.

Those reasons.

Even if it's something small, something tiny and apparently insignificant compared to the enormity of everything else. Every bit of hope helps. Every bit of feel-good we're able to muster, even if only for a moment, pushes the darkness back. And, inch by inch, we'll gain ground. Because, finally, this is about keeping alive not just the ideals but the reality of the world we want: a world of light, and of hope.

And it starts with us. Be the light you want to see in the world, right? In order to be any kind of light, though, we need to keep that spark alive in our own consciousness.


The Charlottesville incident, and all its horrible aftermath, left me reeling. Which is why, when I came across a list of all the Confederate monuments that were either removed or scheduled to be removed (including one whose removal was paid for by the United Daughters of the Confederacy!), many immediately following Charlottesville, I felt my faith in humanity start getting pieced back together. This isn't about "erasing" history or "revising" events; most of these statues won't be destroyed but simply rehomed to more appropriate locations. Giving a place of honor—on government property, in a town square, etc.—to a monument commemorating treasonous, to say nothing of racist, personages is such a blatant no-no that I can't imagine how these statues survived so long. (Actually, I can, but that's a subject for another time.)

Anyway. They're being taken down. Reason prevails.

On a lighter note, one of our rescue dogs here in Curaçao went viral last month! Okay, "viral" may be something of an exaggeration, but Jules—that's the name of the dog—got his story covered by three European newspapers and several videos on YouTube. This is fabulous for two reasons: first, because it spotlights the work of rescuers here, and given that a large percentage of these rescues are adopted in Europe (not enough homes here, or enough people who care), that spotlight means more potential adopter families can be reached—and thus more Curaçao rescue dogs can find a first-world forever home!

The second reason, though, is just as important. The spotlight also falls on the organization that did the rescue (and fostering, and healing), Rescue Paws Curaçao. They're relatively new, and I'm very happy to see them getting attention (and, hopefully, more donations to help them help more dogs). They do fantastic work, as you can see for yourself in the video. Jules was in really bad shape, and they managed to capture his transformation—not just physical but emotional—in brilliant, heartwarming detail.

(If you watch the video on YouTube, you'll be able to read his whole story in the description.)

So Jules became famous. He was featured in several Dutch newspapers as well as the Irish News and on The Independent's (UK) Facebook page. Hopefully all this attention will help him get a forever home.

More than that, however, Jules's story—and that of all the countless little ones like him, who've made a comeback from the brink of death and starvation and have found the strength to live, to trust, to love—is, for me, the best proof that hope is worth all the effort it may cost us to connect with it.

To close, and because nothing—nothing—beats darkness like laughter...

See more funny vet signs at Inspiremore.com

Thank you so, so much for reading. If all, or even some, of the above managed to make you feel better about the state of the world today, please do hop over to visit the other We Are The World participants for amazing and uplifting stories galore. Who knows, you might even have something amazing and uplifting to share yourself, in which case please join in the blog-hoppin' fun! You can add your linky below, and check out the #WATWB guidelines here. Thanks also to awesome hop hosts Damyanti Biswas and Belinda Witzenhausen, and to this month's co-hosts: Simon Falk, Inderpreet Uppal, Lynn Hallbrooks, Eric Lahti, and Mary J Giese. Hurrah, y'all, for your efforts in spreading the light!