Where There is Hope

or, There are More of Us than Them

I’ve been a little quiet around here.

I could say it’s because I’ve had my head down in edits of my latest novel, which is true. I have. And, said novel is, oh yes, as of one week ago to the day and in a few places: Out On Submission. So, I’ll just leave that one there because where there is hope, there is, you know, hope.

I could say Christmas got in the way. It did. It does. Every year. I say it will be different but it never is. I love it, truly love Christmas: the traditions, the family and friends, the excitement, the simple pleasures… but I never start in September like I should, and I never get any quicker at the prep.

What I wouldn’t normally admit, because this is Nice News let’s not forget, is that I’ve just not been feeling it. But this, I’m afraid, is probably the truest of the true. It doesn’t feel right talking about frivolous misadventures and silliness when two mad kids truly think they rule the world, doing so with contempt and hate for everyone who gets in their way and anyone who thinks, looks or acts differently.

But the wheels of lives do keep turning. The sun comes up and the sea goes out. And I think it’s good to stop for a moment, take a breath, and in whatever way works for us, to remember this. There are many more good people than bad people, as my mum once famously said to me, and I cling on to this.

I was out running earlier this week. It was Baltic cold with a deep blue sky, a puff of wind and a perfectly round winter sun – my favourite running weather – when I passed this field.

Fairly regularly I see a few people gathered in this particular field with its fold-out picnic table, and a few deck chairs, all very simple and seemingly sedate. I have a knack of passing when they are setting up or closing down, but on this day my timing was perfect. I watched a model airplane launch itself smoothly upwards, one person on controls, the rest with their heads raised, quietly marvelling at its acrobatics.

A miniature plane looping against a blue sky is such a simple, but impressive sight.

I took some photos and a couple of people smiled and waved. They got it. They got that I got it.

I carried on, one foot in front of the other, reminding myself that more people than not, are truly lovely. I think it’s actually quite rare to meet someone who isn’t fundamentally nice. Most people are just doing their thing, trying to do their best, doing right by other people, often making their lives a little bit brighter in a small, perhaps, un-newsworthy way, but in a personal way, being huge. And as my head went to this place I thought that there are more of us than them, and this gives me hope. I am clinging on to this.

After all, where there is hope, there is, you know, hope.