WHAT DO YOU SAY TO PEOPLE WHO ARE HOPELESS?

What do you say to people who are hopeless?
Well that’s a tough one.
Because Hopeless is a trickster.
That comes in different sizes
And vanishes when you look for it,
And sometimes you just don’t know how big it is the first time you see it.

There’s the cloud of hopeless that gathers over a problem.
Blocking possible solutions,
Tricking you into thinking that improvement is impossible
When it might instead be difficult
Or might blow over with the smallest puff of hope.

There’s the great big hopeless that saturates everything
Laying down its heaviness for years and years
Until you cannot remember when anything was hopeful.

There’s the tried-everything hopeless
Of those who tried everything
Until nobody anywhere had any more ideas
Or suggestions of what they might try.

So what do you say to people who are hopeless?
Say things that feel hopeful to you.
Like, I’ll try to help you,
But only if you mean it.
Or I believe you can get through this,
But only if you do believe it.
Or I know that impossible things can happen
But only when you can think of some.

What do you say when people are hopeless?
Say I care!
Say I’m willing to work on it.
Say I’ll ask other people for advice.
Say maybe it’s not hopeless.

Just saying these things will change something inside you,
And it really is important to say them
Because even if all these things are true
A person feeling hopeless will not think they are true
Unless you say them and say them again.

And at the very worst, even if you are no help at all,
That person will always have the comfort that comes
From knowing for sure that you cared, really cared,
And tried your best to help
At a time when someone felt hopeless.
And you will know it too.