Morning Light 21

"I'm not an optimist; I'm a prisoner of hope"

Archbishop Desmond Tutu

There is a difference between the airiness of blind optimism and the nourishment of hope. John Houston's painting seems to suggest the darkness of prison with the overarching  light of hope. Archbishop Desmond Tutu knew what it was to be a prisoner, confined in a cell, during the dark days of apartheid in South Africa. As a prisoner of hope, he knew there was no escape from it; no matter how dismal things were, there was, for him, no other way than to have hope. Without hope, there was no point and no purpose.