Tenderness is not weakness. It is fortitude. 

   – His Holiness Pope Francis

We have so much to do, and we must do it together.  Each and every one of us can become a bright candle, a reminder that light will overcome darkness. For Christians, the future does have a name, and its name is Hope.

Feeling hopeful does not mean to be optimistically naive… Hope is the virtue of a heart that doesn’t lock itself into the darkness, that doesn’t dwell in the past, that does not simply get by in the present but is able to see a tomorrow.

Hope is the door that opens into the future. Hope is a humble hidden seed of life that, with time, will develop into a large tree. And it can do so much, because a tiny flicker of life that feeds on hope is enough to shatter the shield of darkness.

A single individual is enough for hope to exist, and that individual can be you. And then there will be another You, and another You, and it becomes an Us.

And so, does hope begin when we have an Us?  No, hope begins with one You. When there is an Us, there begins a revolution.

The future is in the hands of those people who recognize the other as a You, and themselves as part of an Us.

I was blessed to hear these words from Pope Francis at the TED conference this past week, and you can already see the full address on their site.  Just after His Holiness spoke, dear friend Raj Panjabi, founder of Last Mile Health, accepted the 2017 TED Prize. Last Mile Health is a perfect example of what the Pope is talking about – Science plus Love in action – and it is wonderful to see an even broader community join to form an Us in support of this hopeful, courageous mission.

Dear Honeybees, it is hard to be tender in this tough, tough world. But it’s the only real strength there is.