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'The world is in a crisis—Humanity has exhausted its ego and doesn’t know what to do'

And this is why HOPE  is truly what the world is craving for this Christmas

We must remain positive. We must remain hopeful

'In short, although, this is a turbulent era; paradoxically, it is also a period of tremendous opportunity, a time of enormous Hope for creating a much better future for ourselves, our children and grandchildren, our community, our country, our world. We need to see this Hope for a better future and play our part in building it.'

Everywhere in the world,  our trust and faith in now and  the future has been severely shaken. Material wealth has proved to be a false God. There is no longer a certainty in a better, kinder future, and many institutions that we may have trusted — government, business, politics, economics, financial institutions, education, media, and religious organisations (to name but a few) — have failed us. We have been let down.

We are now living in a world that is increasingly hard for people to understand, comprehend,  predict and feel safe about, and thus, people of all ages are finding it hard to see hope in their lives. Hopelessness is now ruling the world, bringing us all misery and sickness.

However, although, this is a turbulent era; paradoxically, it is also a period of tremendous opportunity, a time of enormous hope for creating a much better future for ourselves, our children and grandchildren, our community, our country, our world. We need to see this hope for a better future and play our part in building it.

“We Are Here for the Sake of One Another” 

Despite our best efforts, the modern world remains a lonely place, where it can be hard to find conversation and friendship which feels authentic and thoughtful. In an age where social interaction all too often takes the form of trivial memes, polarised arguments, conducted via meaningless and scattergun tweets, we need to navigate new paths  to help us connect with each other on a more meaningful and hopeful level.

That New Path is Called the Path of Hope!


The Path of Hope by Cicakkia

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The world needs hope; every person, everywhere, needs hope. HOPE gives us life. HOPE connects us. HOPE fuels us. HOPE moves us. HOPE keeps us. HOPE grounds us. HOPE protects us. HOPE anchors us.

As far back as the 6th century BC, the Greek poet Theognis of Megara said: “Hope is the one good god remaining.” The poet Theo Dorgan reminds us that, hope is a profound act of imagination, the most important and the most neglected of the civic virtues.  In the face of the present societal and global crises we can lie down in despair, or we can choose hope — which means placing all our faith in each other and in the boundless capacity of the imagination to reinvent circumstance, to establish new truths.

We are not mean people.  We have hearts and minds, we care for each other still, we have our dreams, and in dreams, as the poet Delmore Schwartz once said, “In dreams begin responsibilities”.

Moreover, ‘Hope’- as many wise teachers have reminded us- is a driving force for transformation, innovation, economic and social betterment and personal wellbeing. Hope, often articulated as an endorsed desire for a future which is uncertain, has a clear economic significance as do the unfortunate opposites such as anxiety and inertness. Hence, hope is more than just an emotion or an optimistic attitude. It is related to reason and prudence in the sense of one’s rational assessment of a difficult situation, possible solutions and the prediction of changes. Hope is as complex and ambiguous as the human person itself. For many centuries philosophers and theologians have reflected on the meaning of hope. More recently hope has drawn attention of the young discipline of positive psychology. Also in economics, attempts are made to define the concept and measure its effects, opening up the way for policy interventions.

Reimagining a Better World, a Better Life

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“We do not need magic to transform the world. We carry all the power we need inside of us already. We have the power to imagine better.”   J.K. Rowling

“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions. Imagination is more important than knowledge.  Never give up on what you really want to do. The person with big dreams is more powerful than one with all the facts.”   Albert Einstein  

So now coming together we can begin to imagine the world we are HOPING for

Imagine a political system that puts the public first.  Imagine the economy and markets serving people rather than the other way round.  Imagine us placing values of respect, fairness, interdependence, and mutuality at the heart of our economy. Imagine an economy that gives everyone their fair share, at least an appropriate living wage, and no gig economy and zero-hour contracts.  Imagine where jobs are accessible and fulfilling, producing useful things rather than games of speculation and casino capitalism.  Imagine where wages support lives rather than an ever expanding divisions and separations between the top 1% and the rest.  Imagine a society capable of supporting everyone’s needs, and which says no to greed.  Imagine unrestricted access to an excellent education, healthcare, housing and social services.  Imagine hunger being eliminated, no more food banks and soup kitchens.  Imagine each person having a place he/she can call home.  Imagine all senior citizens living a dignified and secure life.  Imagine all the youth leading their lives with ever-present hope for a better world.  Imagine a planet protected from the threat of climate change now and for the generations to come. Imagine no more wars, but dialogue, conversation and non-violent resolution of conflicts.

This is the world we wish to see, and we believe we have the means to build it, if we take action in the interest of the common good. 

Our Christmas Message: A time to open our hearts

It is with this hope that, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May you find joy in the simple pleasures of life and may the light of the holiday season fill your heart with the hope for a better world.

Kamran and Annie Mofid

...And now we will be most grateful if you would kindly consider to support our chosen Christmas Appeal

Help a Hungry Child

When there is no HOPE, the whole essence of our humanity, being and civilisation will be reduced to nothing

Give our Children Hope for a Better World: Happy, Smiling, Well-nourished, Healthy Children Everywhere

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Much has been made about the growing inequalities in British society, in turn so often driven by educational failings and the widely divergent life chances available to British children of all ages. When children have a bad start at school it is difficult for them to “catch up” in later life; and thus their financial and personal happiness can be blighted for ever by home circumstances obviously beyond their control. Not the last of these factors is hunger, and it is a shamefully widespread phenomenon in modern Britain.

Some one in ten children in the UK are living with parents who struggle to put food on the table. This means that around 870,000 children in England go to bed hungry because their parents are unable to provide the meals they need. If a child arrives at school hungry, they lose one hour of learning time a day. Hungry children are unable to concentrate, are more lethargic, and are thus less likely to succeed in their studies. A quarter of teachers have seen a child fall asleep in the classroom through lack of food or drink. Hunger, as common sense tells us, results in significant lost potential, both for individuals and the country as a whole.’...

Thus, our Chosen Christmas Appeal is:

The Independent’s Christmas Appeal in support of ‘The Felix Trust’, which will go some way towards providing nutritious meals for children, by recycling fresh, nutritious food discarded by restaurants, shops and manufacturers that might otherwise be thrown away. In particular, the Charity Appeal will support a new programme in primary schools to help channel food directly to those young children and their families who are in the greatest need. This will initially be in London, where the charity is based, with the aim of expanding nationally in the next few years.

For many years The Independent’s readers have enthusiastically supported a range of excellent causes, and this year, in the same spirit of hope, we commend this timely appeal with enormous potential to help transform lives and opportunities for so many.


How to donate to The Independent's Help a Hungry Child Christmas appeal 

Thank you for your support.