Signs of the Times #35: Hope as the Counter Virus to Despair ft. Annie Maguire

Hope is a topic of added relevance in today’s climate as we navigate the despair that accompanies a global pandemic. Annie Maguire, a senior at St. Mary’s College majoring in global justice and human rights, joins us today to share her capstone thesis on hope and the insights she has gained from her community-based research. In her thesis Annie coined the term “hopework” as the sustaining meaningful engagement that draws upon hope as both the cause and effect of the action. She shares that when we’re involved in something that engages our mind, body, and spirit in a positive way hope is both the product but also the thing that sparks the action in the first place. She also describes the critical nature that relationships play in framing hope, that hope is not something that takes place in isolation, it’s something that you share and can serve as a counter virus to despair during challenging times.