Hope is a valley

In our weekly service Sunday night, Rev. Elise, our former campus pastor, spoke about hope.
Hope, she said, is not just optimism in the face of adveristy.
The root of hope means 'valley' or 'a place between two hills'.
America is in a valley. Stock markets, housing markets, divorce rates, crime rates...not good.
Sometimes this feels like a never-ending rut.
On Tuesday night, Chicago exploded. People of all ages roamed the streets, singing and shouting their excitement that Barack Obama would be the next leader of America.
I'm excited. I voted for Barack Obama, although I do have a lot of respect for Senator McCain.
My parents and several of my friends are extremely concerned about the far-leftedness of our new President. It's hard for me to fully sympathize with their sentiments. In this city, in this community, I've found a home. While I am generally surrounded by students, people my own age, this is an open campus, and I am familiar with the lifestyle that most of the families here lead. There is a huge population of first or second generation immigrants. Many families have three children or more. Every morning on my way to class I walk beside parents, on their way to work, dropping thier children off at school. Most of the families here, in my community, are lower-middle class and will never own their own homes or cars. While at first this seemed sad to me, I realize now that it's just different than what I'm used to. Most of the people I have met here work very hard and try to live within their means. Because of our current economic situation, however, they are one of the demographics that is suffering the most. Many of their jobs, such as those in retail, are being cut or are offering decreased hours. Food prices are continuing to rise. The cost of transportation continues to rise.
Although this is not the only reason I cast my vote for Obama, it was an influential factor that I feel he was the candidate who would have the greatest effect on communities like my own. I think without a doubt, the worst of the financial crisis is yet to come. Looking at patterns from past decades, I think it's a safe prediction to say that we have at least 3 very difficult years ahead of us as a nation. We are just now entering the low ground, however, with a strong leader and responsible behavior as a nation, we should not just survive, but go on to flourish in the years to come.
Hope, a word we overuse and sometimes abuse, is more than a smile on a bad day; hope is the endurance through the tough times because of the knowledge that things will get better.