What's it like to live without hope? What's it like to finally decide that your dreams are beyond your abilities and to resign yourself to living without any prospect that things will get better?
The closest thing I could find to a picture of a person totally without hope comes from a book by Dr. David Jeremiah titled The Power of Encouragement. Dr. Jeremiah tells about an old Alfred Hitchcock show which featured the story of an evil woman jailed for committing a murder. The woman soon realizes that her only chance for escape is to befriend the old man who serves as the prison undertaker. He is the only inmate who is allowed outside the prison walls. After much bribing and begging, the woman finally convinces the old man to help her escape.
He tells her that next time she hears the bell …