Sunday, June 6, 2010

Hope & Cynicism

The world can change. And Switchfoot lead-singer Jon Foreman believes it, too. Read this article and be inspired!

From the Huffington Post:

"Our fears come from real places of pain. Opposition can create opportunity, true. But the opposition can also demolish us. Sometimes the happily ever after does not come for us in this life. Our heroine Joan, was captured and burned at the stake at the age of 19. Such a horrible, unnecessary ending. Charles VII could have offered ransom. He owed her so much and yet, her king, that she helped to crown, sat idly by while Joan of Arc was captured and tried. It's a brutal end fo a story that was going along so well, certainly not what Disney or Michael Jordan are looking for.

And yet, even in her death, Joan of Arc remained true to what she believed. She didn't try simply because she knew she would win, she tried because she knew that what was right: because it's the noble, moral, authentic thing to do.

"If anything could have discouraged her, the state of France in 1429 should have." says historian Kelly DeVries. She had no reason to believe that she could accomplish anything, let alone turn the tide for France and be martyred for her honorable actions. Joan of Arc is a symbol of audacious hope in the face of difficult times.

Yes, I have my dragons to fight. Yes, I have my fears. But I still have my breath in my lungs, I still have blood in my veins. I cannot sit idly by. I refuse to just let the village burn. I'd rather side with the illiterate farm girl who hears things than the cynics that hear nothing. I want to see beauty come from the ashes around me. Even if I fall, I will burn at the stake knowing that my fumes supported a good cause. Far better to fall at building a magnificent world than to succeed in monochromatic survival..."

For the rest of the article, click here.


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