Hope, like faith, is nothing if it is not courageous; it is

“Hope, like faith, is nothing if it is not courageous; it is nothing if it is not ridiculous.” Thus spoke Thornton Wilder, the playwright and philosopher of the human spirit, whose pen captured both the tragedy and triumph of ordinary lives. These words, luminous and piercing, remind us that hope and faith are not gentle comforts, but fierce acts of defiance. They are the soul’s rebellion against despair, the refusal to bow before the darkness that would smother it. Wilder calls them courageous and ridiculous — not as insults, but as crowns. For to hope when all seems lost, to believe when reason mocks you, is to join the company of heroes and saints who have forever carried light into shadow.

In the wisdom of the ancients, hope was not mere wishful thinking, but a sacred fire kindled in the heart. It was the strength that sustained sailors through storm, farmers through famine, and dreamers through ridicule. Yet the ancients also knew that true hope demands courage — the willingness to stand firm in the face of scorn and uncertainty. To hope deeply is to risk heartbreak; to have faith is to walk blind upon a path lit only by conviction. It is easy to believe when the way is clear and the world applauds you. It is harder — and nobler — to believe when everything within and around you says, “Give up.”

So too does Wilder speak of the ridiculousness of hope — that quality which makes the hopeful appear foolish to the wise of the world. Every great act of faith has first been mocked as madness. When Galileo looked through his telescope and dared to believe the heavens moved, he was called delusional. When Martin Luther King Jr. dreamed of justice in a land divided by hate, his dream was dismissed as impossible. When a mother tends her sick child through the long night, whispering that he will live even as others prepare for death, her hope seems ridiculous — and yet, through that hope, miracles often begin.

Thornton Wilder himself lived through the storms of the twentieth century — two world wars, economic collapse, and the shadow of human cruelty. Yet through his writing, he insisted on the indestructible dignity of life. In his masterpiece Our Town, he portrays the quiet courage of everyday people — those who hope, love, and believe despite the certainty of loss. To him, the ordinary act of rising each morning, of loving another person, of trusting that tomorrow will come, was itself an act of holy defiance. Thus, his words are not poetic abstraction; they are born from the lived knowledge that hope must be brave to be real, and bold enough to appear absurd.

Consider the tale of Anne Frank, who, hidden in the darkness of war, wrote that she still believed people were truly good at heart. Her words, penned amid terror, are both courageous and, by worldly measure, ridiculous. Yet that ridiculous hope outlived the tyrants who sought to extinguish it. It crossed generations, becoming a light to those who came after. For courageous hope has a power beyond reason — it plants seeds in barren soil and trusts that spring will come again.

There is, then, a profound truth in Wilder’s paradox: hope that does not risk ridicule is merely comfort; faith that requires no courage is only sentiment. True hope dares to look foolish. It believes in healing when the wound still bleeds, in love when the heart still aches, in peace while the cannons still roar. It is not the denial of reality, but the insistence that reality is not the whole of truth. Such hope is the bridge between what is and what may yet be.

So, my child of the future, remember this: when your dreams are scorned and your faith seems absurd, stand firm. Let your hope be courageous, let it be ridiculous, for only then will it have the strength to endure. The world is changed not by those who are cautious, but by those who dare to believe in what cannot yet be seen. Be brave in your hope. Speak words of life where others prophesy doom. Act with kindness when cynicism reigns. In doing so, you join the lineage of souls who, through their stubborn and shining faith, have carried humanity forward through the ages.

Thus, let Thornton Wilder’s wisdom live in your heart as both a challenge and a blessing: “Hope, like faith, is nothing if it is not courageous; it is nothing if it is not ridiculous.” Hope boldly, therefore — even when the world laughs, even when you tremble — for that is how stars are born in the darkness, and how the impossible becomes real.