Roy Exum: My Easter Hopes, 2016

Christopher Columbus, who you may recall was a pretty fair sailor in his day, very famously said, “You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.” It is the ideal definition of ‘faith.’ Another guy, Canada’s Bruce Cockburn, described ‘hope’ darn near perfect when he penned, “Nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight. You got to kick at the darkness 'til it bleeds daylight.” (If that sounds familiar he used it in a song he wrote for the Bare Naked Ladies that was the band’s first Top 20 single.)

So here we are at my favorite day of the year. I firmly believe you can’t have hope without a faith to back it up. The very first Easter morning gave all of mankind a hope that was impossible before. Alexander Dumas, the brilliant French writer whose ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’ and ‘The Three Musketeers’ have been translated into more than 200 languages wrote in the late 1800s, “All human wisdom is summed up in two words – wait and hope.”

So as we wait until the Second Coming, what binds us to it is hope and, on this day, here are some of the things that I hope for:

I HOPE every boy and girl under the age of 18 will never forget what some famous person realized: “The one thing all famous authors, world-class athletes, business tycoons, singers, actors and other celebrated achievers have in common is that they all began their journeys when they were none of these things.”

I HOPE that through stunning immunotherapy trials our immune systems can one day be trained to repel cancer, heart disease, Lou Gehrig’s and other horrors.

I HOPE that all the people in Tennessee can grasp that when two glorious people who had been married over 70 years -- Howard Graham Swafford, Sr. and his trail-blazing wife Claude – died within weeks of one another, there is no way their combined greatness with ever be duplicated.

I HOPE you will dwell for a moment on this phrase because it is alarmingly true: “Sorrow can only look back, worry looks all around, but only faith only up.”

I HOPE that San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee will soon try some new medicine after banning all city workers from the state of North Carolina over LGBT issues. Such actions accomplish nothing.

I HOPE we will always remember Lance Barkman’s call for bravery: “I’ll never give up my love of the hunt, for the fear of the woods.”

I HOPE I shall never grow so old that a glass of cold milk and a new package of Girl Scout cookies doesn’t hit the spot.

I HOPE Burger King’s great idea of selling hot dogs takes off and put me down as one who loves the new design on the Diet Coke cans.

I HOPE we can relish in more companies like the Minnesota-based ‘eye-bobs’ who make the best reading glasses on the planet. I sat down on a pair the other day and sent the broken temple back to headquarters for repair. With a few days I got a hysterical note saying the No. 1 “repairer” was on it and that she rides motorcycles in her spare time. Imagine my delight when the repaired glasses came back with my money order attached! “Motorcycle Momma” said this act of kindness was on her!

I HOPE that every dad would grab up his daughter and quote Walt Whitman, saying, “You are so much sunshine to the square inch!”

I HOPE we can take our poorest schools and offer some type of Saturday programs that would improve reading and hunger – many of these kids don’t get enough to eat!

I HOPE we could built an indoor shooting facility for law enforcement and the public alike. I’m thinking off on Amnicola Highway near the Election Commission as ideal. There is ample land and, if a bullet somehow got loose, it might do some good.

I HOPE the beer garden at UTC football games will add to the fun but it must be policed right to work. Moc football is the best show around in the fall and, with both men’s and women’s basketball sizzling, what an attendance booster if beer could get inside the Roundhouse as well.

I HOPE anyone who wants to read a great thriller will consider “Patriot” by best-selling author Ted Bell. What a phenomenal read.

I HOPE you noticed a poor woman was killed by a bull not long ago in north Alabama. Don’t take farm animals or wildlife for granted. And did you see they closed a popular running trail along the river in Atlanta because a large alligator was threatening runners.

I HOPE Times Free Press writer Karen Hill will realize how many of us have loved over 30 years of her stories, her humor and talent when she retires next month. We worked together for a long time and thank God Karen inherited a grand dose of her dad’s wonderfulness.

I HOPE Alabama Governor Robert Bentley can somehow weather a sex scandal but right now the media is all over the “stupid” politician. Birmingham writer John Archibald has listened to some of the steamy tapes of Bentley talking to his female assistant. “Bentley calls her ‘baby’" 12 times and ‘sweetheart’ twice. He talks of kissing four times, including a ‘left ear,’ a ‘sweet ear’" and a ‘plain old ear’ … Bentley mentions her breasts one time. Oh, that's the same number of times he mentioned his wife, Dianne.”

I HOPE the state of Georgia realizes that when the legislature just passed House Bill 757, it could have dire consequences. The bill “would allow employers and businesses to deny services or jobs on the basis of behavior that conflicts with religious beliefs, raising concerns about LGBTQ rights. Some believe if it passes the state’s pro sports teams may leave, not to mention the SEC football championship. “Governor Nathan Deal has until May 3 to accept or veto the bill.

And, finally, if you are down and hurting on this day, I HOPE you’ll consider what England’s Adlin Sinclair offers, “Without faith, hope and trust, there is no promise for the future, and without a promising future, life has no direction, no meaning and no justification.”

Happy Easter