Hope, for many, is as futile as the philosophy in a "Peanuts" comic strip which showed Linus and Charlie Brown leaning on a fence, talking. Linus says, "I guess it's wrong to be worrying about tomorrow, maybe we should think only about today." Charlie Brown interrupts him to say, "No, that's giving up. I'm still hoping that yesterday will get better!"

A lot of people have no hope for today, and are sure that tomorrow will be just as hopeless. Indeed, in our time "hope" has become a bad word. When the doctor calls us in to say of our sick loved one, "At least we can still hope," it doesn't seem to cheer us up, but rather depresses us. When we sigh, "Well, here's hoping," the message we give is that "I might as well give up." When we hear someone say, "Well, as long as there's life, there's…