Happy-Go-Lucky...?

I went to see Happy-Go-Lucky last night, a film that I've been looking forward to for a while. Have you seen it?



It features the eternally happy Poppy--described as a "Pollyanna" type of character--who, of course, bumps up against the harsher side of reality in the course of the movie. I expected to love it, wanted to love it, but I left feeling... flat. It was an interesting feeling that took the entire walk home to sort out.

I think that there was a fundamental clash between my worldview and the worldview the film presented that left me feeling very unsatisfied. Without giving much away, we see lots of Poppy being her bubbly self (almost exasperatingly so), she has a few experiences that seem to get her a little down, she questions the whole "happiness" thing a little, and has a personal, intense experience that really assaults that rainbow kingdom she has built. The story ends abruptly in the next scene, Poppy having recovered her sunny perspective on the world.

The reason it went off the rails for me, I think, has to do with hope. I have learned (am learning might be more appropriate!) to look for the best in situations, to cultivate gratitude, to consider that my perspective makes all the difference to how I feel about life. I'm also very aware of suffering in the world and have some real and difficult challenges in my own life to deal with. But while I try to be deliberate about recognizing and celebrating blessing and goodness wherever I see them, I don't do that by painting on a smile or ignoring trouble. For me, there is a real difference between sunny, naïve optimism and hope.

My hope has deep roots in faith... I don't take the Pollyanna view that everything will work out fine and we'll all bob along happily on the surface of the raging rapids, enjoying the sunshine even if it's a bit of a rough ride. In our lives and in this world, I think we do sometimes hit hard into the rocks. Sometimes we do get pulled under. Sometimes we feel like we're drowning and not going to make it. Realizing these things can lead to despair, but hope reaches into the river and pulls out the meaning, the vision, the promise, the blessing, the remembered faithfulness of God.

American poet Theodore Roethke writes "In a dark time, the eye begins to see." I think he's right that although it may take more effort, if we learn to use our nighttime eyes, to gather whatever light is available, we can learn to see in dark times. Even in the day, contrast defines the edges of things for us... it's the shadows that shows us what is real and solid.

What do you think? What does hope really mean, and is it the same thing as optimism? (And if you've seen the movie, we need to have coffee and chat!)