The Buoyancy of Hope
By Christopher A. Etienne
Christopher A. Etienne
The way a nation goes, whether that of the fact or that of the truth, is decisive in its effect upon inspiring service in the public interest. Indeed, this life is not similar to a game of chess or checkers. It is similar to a game of golf; therefore, play your course with The Buoyancy of Hope. The mentality is not to allow the external forces in life to overtake internal confidence.
It appears at present that there is some misunderstanding, miscommunication, and misinformation about the scriptural teaching of turning the other cheek. Indeed, this teaching is a parable, an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. In the scholarly journal article entitled, Toward an Augustinian Politics by Eugene TeSelle in 1988, he argues, "It is risking the changeable for the sake of the abiding, restraining the desire for vengeance and fostering patience, seeking harmony rather than discord." Furthermore, to be clear. TeSelle argues, "Someone comes up and tries to strike your right cheek, that is, to take away your faith. You have received a blow on the right; offer the left, so that what is temporal will be taken away, and you continue to possess the eternal. Hear Paul the Apostle doing exactly this. They persecuted him for being a Christian; they struck his right cheek, he offered them his left. 'I am a Roman citizen,' he said (Acts 22:25)." How true that is. As a result, we must not accept any wooden nickels.
It is a fact that jumps to the eye for the reason that intimidating is the man who dares to think for himself. "Truth is a jealous mistress and will never reveal herself not a whit to any but a disinterested seeker," Edith Hamilton said in the classical 1930 Greek literature entitled, The Greek Way. To be clear. Truth requires an individual's undivided attention.
There is a passage from the Roman philosopher Cicero about how to overcome adversity that served as the essence of Thomas Jefferson’s philosophy about the pursuit of happiness, declaring, “Therefore the man, whoever he is, whose soul is tranquillized by restraint and consistency and who is at peace with himself, so that he neither pines away in distress, nor is broken down by fear, nor consumed with a thirst of longing in pursuit of some ambition, nor maudlin in the exuberance of meaningless eagerness – he is the wise man of whom we are in quest, he is the [blessed] man.” How true that is. Invictus.
Indeed, we shall have hope because Rev. Dr. Martin L. King Jr. in 1966 is right. "A fact is merely the absence of contradiction, but truth is the presence of coherence. Truth is the relatedness of facts." We shall have hope because U.S. President Abraham Lincoln in 1859 is right. "Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it." We shall have hope because James Russell Lowell in 1845 is right. "Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne – Yet that scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown, Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own." Invictus.
The Buoyancy of Hope. The ability to rise expeditiously from the temporal in life to the eternal. In the language of U.S. President Barack Obama's speech at the 2019 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Awards ceremony, arguing, "Hope is never a willful ignorance to the harshness and cruelties that so many suffer. Or the enormous challenges that we face in mounting progress in this imperfect world.
"And hope is certainly not the smug complacency of those who won life's lottery and think it's all because of their intelligence, or charm, or hard work on their own.
"Rather, hope is the insistence that, no matter how hard our circumstances, there are better days ahead. That the crooked road can be made straight. That out of the ashes a phoenix can rise," President Obama said. How true that is. Invictus.
Christopher A. Etienne Biographical Sketch
Christopher A. Etienne’s public service ethos is inspired and instructed by his parents and community in New Orleans. His upbringing, formal education, and professional experiences provided him with a worldview that ordinary people can do extraordinary things when they’re given an equal and equitable opportunity. Previously, he served as a Legislative Aide to U.S. Representative Cedric L. Richmond and U.S. Senator Mary L. Landrieu, both of Louisiana, and U.S. Representative Jahana Hayes of Connecticut. He earned his master's degree in political science from Howard University in Washington, D.C. and earned his bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB), two prestigious historically Black universities (HBCUs). For his leadership in public service, he was named a Fellow of the Institute of Politics at Loyola University New Orleans (IOP) and named to the New Orleans Regional Leadership Institute (NORLI).