We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.
~Martin Luther King, Jr.
I remember the up and down roller coaster ride throughout Gary’s cancer treatments. Hope that the white cell count levels would be high enough to keep on schedule with the chemo. Fear when he had to delay treatment that it was giving the cancer more time to advance. Hope that the receding nodules meant remission was occurring. Heartache when those same nodules came back within weeks of his chemotherapy sessions ending. Hope that radiation would be the thing and more hope again when he tried alternative therapies.
As often as the treatments failed we would pick ourselves up and look for the next potential path to healing his cancer. Over and over for three years we kept on. As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, we could not fight those disappointments. We did not have the energy to do so. Resisting would not change the outcome.
At times, all we had was hope. It was the light of that candle that kept us moving forward in our lives. If we hoped he was getting better we could plan for a future, look for the next film to work on together or take our trip to Europe.
We lived on hope and it was hope, not disappointment, which gave us time to build wonderful memories and love each other. In life, there are disappointments but as long as there is hope, there is an opportunity to build something new, turn a dream into reality, change our own lives and the lives of others.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ultimately sacrificed his life so that others might have hope. He inspired so many to continue to carry on that flame of hope and turn disappointment into triumph, fear into courage and loss into meaningful action. This is a measure of a man’s greatness. So much possible out of ten simple words…
We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.
Martin Luther King, Jr., 1929 ~ 1968
