Happy Wednesday,

This is the final entry focused on words and phrases that have inspired me.  This week the words come from The Sandman, an amazing graphic novel series by Neil Gaiman.  The Sandman follows Morpheus, the Lord of Dreams, the one responsible for shaping the world of our dreams and nightmares.  It’s a mix of superheroes, mythology, horror, and wild imagination. 

One of my favorite scenes is when Morpheus is having a verbal battle with a demon, where they constantly try to one up each other.  Kids play this game, and it sounds like this.  Kid 1: “I have super strength, so I’m the best.”  Kid 2: “Well, I have super strength AND I can fly.”  Kid 1: “Then, I have super strength, can fly, and I can teleport.” And they go back and forth trying to one up each other.  Does this sound at all familiar or is this just my kids?

Anyway, in the graphic novel, Morpheus plays a similar game against a demon.  The game has escalated, and the demon goes for what he thinks is the final blow.  The demon says, “I am anti-life, the Beast of Judgment. I am the dark at the end of everything. The end of universes, gods, worlds…of everything. And what will you be then, Dreamlord?”  Morpheus replies, “I am hope.”  The demon and the audience go silent.  They know that nothing can defeat hope because hope finds a way to persevere through everything.  Morpheus wins the game.

What does this have to do with anything?  I don’t know about you, but sometimes when things are going wrong it’s easy for it to start snowballing out of control.  It’s easy for the problems to stack and stack and stack until I’m so overwhelmed I can’t see anything else.  This moment from The Sandman is a perfect rebuttal to this feeling of helplessness and being overwhelmed.  It’s the simplicity and the power of the phrase, “I am hope.”  It serves as another reminder to me that even when things get tough, when the worlds feels too big, when things feel out of control, hope can always help you see a path forward and a better day.  This sentiment is enough to get me through tough times.  What about you?

The challenge: Will you remember that hope is always there?

Bonus: I wrote this entry like 1.5 or 2 years ago, and Netflix just recently turned The Sandman into a show that we released last week.  If you’d like to see the battle, I describe play out you can go to YouTube and search Dream Lord vs. Lucifer.  Fair warning: There are some adult words and violent images in the series.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry