I hope my family doesn’t die from this.

Phrases of hope – “I hope that this pandemic ends soon,” or “I hope there will be a vaccine soon,” or “I hope I can find a job again after lock-down ends” or “I hope my family doesn’t catch COVID.”

In the summer of 2020, I myself had religiously uttered these phrases of hope – and every time, it seems to have been answered only with anxiety and worries.

Lessening the worries by trying to stay updated on the latest news didn’t help either – all I got were the words spewed by political leaders downplaying the virus.

“The virus will disappear. It will disappear” (Donald Trump July 21, 2020), while the nation saw an average of 65,000 daily cases.

Many others in positions of power echoed his words.

I remember being paralyzed with fear – an emotional response not unique to just me. Fear erupted all over the US, and continuously up to present day. It puppeted people to lash out at the asian community to “go back where you belong,” or “take the virus back to your commie land.” Fear puppeted people to point fingers at non-vaxxers and non mask wearers – actions that breaks down unity amidst a crisis in which unity is needed the most. 

Dr. Sandra Thurmann herself stated that “It’s important to give people hope in the middle of despair.” 

There was indeed hope, not from the words of leaders but from actions taking place:

Hope surfaced when the global scientific research community pooled together efforts to produce data for an effective vaccine.  

Hope surfaced when new initiatives organized volunteers to safely escort elderly asians leaving their house.

Now, I didn’t expect political leaders to pull a vaccine out of their pocket nor do groundwork with helping in the community; I do expect, however, for them to have the responsibility of communicating some sort of “hope”-esque message to the public, since they know the most of the nation’s current state and its available resources. This leads to the question of the ways a political leader can communicate hope, if they were in such a position where there is indeed hope.

It’s not always apparent that hope does exist in any given moment, since there can be so many unknowns in the pandemic, especially at the start; if hope does not exist, then what is the next best thing to communicate? 

Data?

Thoughts and prayers? 

Mix of both? 

Something else?
I personally think that honesty and transparency is the best way to go – but it is easier said than done.