ON HOPE AND LIGHT BULBS

And the old joke asks, “”How many counsellors does it take to change a light bulb?
And the answer is, “”Only one, but it has to want to change.
And the million-dollar question, if you happen to be a counsellor is, “”What in the world do I have to do to make that light bulb want to change?
And the wise leader replies, “”Ask not what you have to do to make the light bulb want to change but rather ask what makes that light bulb stay the same when everybody else in the room can see how much brighter things would be if only it would change.
And the counsellor says, “”You have to really know a light bulb in order to understand what gives it that unique perspective on the room.
And the hope theorist asks, “”Is it possible that the difference between that light bulb and everybody else in the room is somehow related to hope?
And the wise leader says, “”I think I’ll get on with other work while you all sort this out.
And I, a counsellor prone to wondering impatiently why I have yet to devise, after more than thirteen years of mind-blowing concentration, a universally effective one-size-fits-all hope-focussed light-bulb-changing technique, have only one thing to say: “”A counsellor’s work would be a whole lot easier to describe in a training manual if there weren’t so many different kinds of light bulbs.