Hope and Fear

I just read a sentence which to me, summarizes how I see the human dilemma, like few others do.  It was said by Elie Wiesel and was “we walk…carried by a profound fear and extraordinary hope.”
Just about every speech I have read contained those two elements.  People were explaining their hope and the reasons for it.  Invariably they also talked about their fears of what could stop it or intervene.
There is hope and there is fear.  I know I have a future and a hope, but it being there does not guarantee it will happen.  Between fear and hope is me.  Sometimes great me, sometimes really stupid me.  In all cases, warts and all me.
I know that as with everything, it is my decision.  Fear does not mean the absence of hope, just as hope does not mean the absence of fear.  It seems to me, if I experience fear, hope remains, and if I experience hope, fear remains.
Whatever happens, my response is my choice.  People may help me, and people may hinder me, but they can never be me.  I can be surrounded by a million people at a protest in Hong Kong, but what I do is my choice.  I can be with 40,000 other people at Suncorp Stadium watching the Broncos go down yet again, but what I do is always my choice alone.
They reckon that “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.”  I personally have trouble with that one, as if it was equal it would never die.  I do however think that for every action there is a reaction and the effects can go on and on.
Decisions are a funny thing.  Many have no real lasting consequence except to sustain.  That can be both good and bad.  If I choose to eat a lot of sugar the consequence can be diabetes.  If I choose to eat healthy stuff the consequence (all things being equal) is that I live long and prosper.  Dad lived long and prospered.  He was regularly chewing on a carrot, or instead of throwing the last of the tomato being used out, he ate it.  No wonder he lived long.  That was a decision that became a life-long habit.
They reckon insanity is knowing the right thing to do and not doing it. Boy it does not mean I always do the right thing though.  Sometimes I choose temporary pleasure over long term gain.  I guess that makes me insane.  But that is just between you and me ok?  Can’t have that getting out.
I do feel though like the cards are stacked against me.  As they say “everything left to itself tends to decay.”  In those circumstances I have never seen things improve no matter how much I wish it was different.  For some reason I find it easier to go with the flow rather than stand against it, when I think that matters.
Social media seems a bit like a go with the flow thing to me.  Ok that seems a stretch but stay with me.  Before potatoes are mashed they are all individual.  Once mashed they are all the same.  On social media it seems I can say what I like and be accepted, as long as it is the same.
I know both hope and fear.  My life is built on one and not the other.