Beyond Hope

Levester Williams

Reed Esslinger-Payet,GSI

Art-Des 250: Section 5

It seems as if Jensen views hope as a destructive tool, a bane to action. According to him, to have hope is to rely on someone else to discover the solution to the environmental issues and for one not to take responsibilities: “To hope for some result means you have given up any agency concerning it” (Jensen). There is a distinct demarcation between hope and helplessness. Hope does not denote or connote “helplessness.” Someone may hope that someone else will come and aid him, but hope is the longing of something to come true not the longing for someone to aid someone else. When one is in the state of helplessness, then one will only be dependent upon someone else to help. Contrastingly, hope is the catalyst that encourages work to be done.

His definitions of hope are only arbitrary since hope has produce work. “Faith without works is dead” (James).To have faith, one must have hope that their efforts will not be in vain to change a situation. When you cannot believe in a change, then why exert any effort in something that will not change? This is ludicrous and quite vain. To have hope without putting forth work is false since one recognizes during that situation that one’s efforts create progress. To categorize all hope as false, in which Jensen did, shows how he is mistakenly not realizing the differences between hope and helplessness.

“The trouble with most people is that they think with their hopes or fears or wishes rather than with their minds” (qtd. in Hornes). In the context of environmental issues, this statement is true. Of course, environmental issues will always beleaguer the world; therefore, environmentalists will not efface all the issues if not any. However, with the efforts of others, a difference will be made. As mentioned by Professor Trumpey, the world operates under a “utility of scale.” We as individuals think of our actions as being separate from rest of the world when it comes to environmental issues. For example, if a factory is dumping their waste into a river, one could say that he didn’t have any connection with the factory’s decision. Yet, he does since he might buy their products. Or he thinks he is not adding much carbon to the atmosphere not fully recognizing that his decision to drive a car is contributing to gases being released by cars.

Basically, our decisions of how we handle our environment agglomerate a scale of effects. We as artists have the power of creativity (Trumpey). Worrying alone about our environment will not change it. With my knowledge in our academic work and creativity, I must be conscious of my everyday decisions. With applied knowledge comes power. Now, I must make a conscious effort to practice “green” as much as possible in artworks or to use alternative materials if negotiable.

Works Cited

Horne, Jed. "FEAR: False Evidence Appearing Real." The Left Coaster. 7 Aug. 2004. Web. 18 Sept. 2009. .

James. New King James Version. Web. 18 Sept. 2009. .

Jensen, Derrick. "Beyond Hope." Orion. Web. 18 Sept. 2009. .

Trumpey, Joe. Stamps Auditorium, Ann Arbor. 16 Sept. 2009. Lecture.