Believe in things worth believing in

It's no secret or surprise that we are in the darkest days of the year. These long nights are the way of the universe, more regular than clockwork, which is merely our rudimentary attempt at quantifying the unknowable.

Out of this darkness, many world religions and belief systems offer cause for celebration, for hope, at year’s end.

The human propensity toward hope often defies reason. It's a leap of faith, after all.

I've been thinking about this conundrum in human reasoning since learning that the epitaph on renowned Irish poet Seamus Heaney's grave reads: “Walk on air against your better judgement,” from his poem, “The Gravel Walks.”

Poetry can jar your thinking, which is a good thing, but sit with that fantastical thought for a bit. In my reading, air is that unknown space between heaven and earth where we can find hope, even when intellect tells us there is none. Defiantly, the lucky among us go there, and walk on air.

Caitlin Flannigan writes eloquently in The Atlantic (January 2025) about how Heaney's epitaph – a dare? an imperative? a suggestion? – speaks deeply and directly to her: “I repeat it often. I've been sick for many years now, and whenever I get a call that explains some bad finding, I listen stoically and then remind myself that I'll walk on air despite the news.”

That is what faith – wherever you find it, in whatever fashion or form, provable or not – provides.

Hub McCann, the character played by Robert Duvall in the 2003 movie “Secondhand Lions,” sums it up this way: “Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things that a man needs to believe in the most.”

And then he lists them: “That people are basically good. That honor, courage and virtues mean everything. That power and money, money and power, mean nothing. That good always triumphs over evil. And I want you to remember this: that love, true love never dies.”

And, maybe to avoid judgment regarding such sentimentality, he adds: “Doesn't matter if any of this is true or not. You see, a man should believe in these things because these are the things worth believing in.”

Like hope.

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