At the end of an interview in January 22, 2006, Jeff Chu of Time magazine had the following exchange with Nobel Peace Prize winner, writer, professor, and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel:
Chu: YOU SOUND HOPEFUL, BUT I KNOW YOU LOVE TO READ AND TEACH ALBERT CAMUS. WHY? MANY PEOPLE SEE HIM AS A DEPRESSING WRITER.
Wiesel: To the contrary, I think he is hopeful. If you read The Plague, there is a doctor who does everything he can to save. In the midst of death, there is a human being who sacrifices his days and nights–and maybe risks his life–to save people he’d never met. Camus said, “Where there is no hope, one must invent hope.” It is only pessimistic if you stop with the first half of the sentence and just say, There is no hope. Like Camus, even when it seems hopeless, I invent reasons to hope.
https://time.com/4392241/elie-wiesel-10-questions/
Let us pray: God of past, present, and future, you continually offer us reason upon reason to hope. Grant us the courage and creativity to see, embody, and live your promise of hope for justice, peace, and wholeness, in this world and the next. Amen.
Pastor Kate