There was a time when I thought these feelings to be only fantasy. I dismissed them as inventions of my own desire, the obsessive creations of a desperate and inventive soul in need. But too many things have happened. Too many of these good things have come true. I have begun to see the difference between fantasy and deep hope, between true promise and miserable self-deception.
False hope is surely the agent of despair.
But true promise is the road to life. The fantastic future which cloaks a miserable present can choke what remains of our spirits. But the life of true hope, the honest and earnest vision of glory, which can look almost the same as the false vision, is essential to good life in the tough, frustrating world. The difference is not on the surface but in the heart, and in the fruits of the feeling. True hope leads to real and effective action.