What is a story of hope? Hope? Google defines hope as “a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.” I instead have a much different definition of hope. Hope is an optimistic state of mind that a specific outcome will arise. Hope isn’t shadowed by adversity or by doubt. But, Hope cannot be baseless, it must be supported by something.

A story of hope includes many key elements. A story of hope at a minimum has two underlying themes: Resilience, and adversity. Going hand in hand, resilience and adversity help define a story of hope. They provide insight into the character and the both physical and mental barriers they have had to overcome to be able to be where they are today

An example can be the story of Raheem Sterling. Sterling is a professional soccer player playing at Chelsea, one of the top clubs in the world at the moment. From the ages 6-18, Raheem was playing at Chelsea Academy despite living 1+ hours away from the training ground. Raheem’s older sister sacrificed her childhood every single day for 12 years on hope. On the hope that Raheem would make it pro. No friends, and no social life,  she accompanied her younger brother to training rain or shine. She watched and did homework as Raheem trained. Although a rather small example compared to stories of 911 and other significant events, the story of Raheem and his sister is inspiring and can be seen as a story of hope.

Lakima Sterling showed an inspiring amount of resilience. To stare her childhood down and walk away from it day after day shows me how much she had riding on hope. While Lakima fought resilience, Sterling challenged adversity in a ruthless environment where 1 of every 100 kids will make it pro. Raheem was that kid. Through countless hours of training and dedication to his craft, Raheem was able to reach the level he is at today. But Raheem relied on hope as well. Hoping for the opportunity to present himself to show off his worth, hoping for the callup, hoping to make his family proud. That, is a story of hope.

In conclusion, a story of hope is a story that is driven by the sense of hope of the characters. A story of hope contains resilience and adversity which are the bases that hope stands on to drive the story forward and create such a powerful storytelling technique.