Hope: The Courage to Believe in a Better Tomorrow

Alex Starratt

When I was first asked by father Sajo to speak about Hope, and my inspiring story at this event, I felt quite confident in my ability to do so. However, when it actually came time to write this speech, I had a very hard time figuring out what I was going to talk about. The thing about Hope, is that on the surface, it seems a very simple concept, and I think it’s something that we all have an innate and general understanding of from a very young age. But when one is asked to define hope, or justify it, especially if the idea itself is being challenged, this seemingly simple idea becomes very complex. When one looks at the world from what is deemed a “realist’s” point of view – seeing all the imperfections, all the flaws, and the uncountable struggles that are experienced by individuals and societies, it seems that the natural conclusion is to give into despair. “How can we hope to make a positive impact on a broken world, set on resisting actions of good nature?” By definition despair is the feeling of helplessness. “No matter how hard we try, there is no hope in creating a better future for ourselves or others...” I hope you can see the absurdity of this statement. I’m sure if you all were to look back on your lives, you’d be able to recognize a time that you have made a positive impact on somebody else’s life. Or at the very least, somebody has made a positive impact on your life. Whether it’s helping a friend, empathizing with others, or even sharing a laugh, all of us leave positive impacts on our world every day. Despair is a lie, and only wields as much power as we give to it. But even so the question still remains… How do we truly understand the nature of hope? For it is true, that hope is far more complex than it seems on the surface, and our willingness to accept hope will be challenged many times in our lives.

Celebrating Excellence: Alex Receives the Relighting Lives Foundation Achievement Award

I feel that it’s important to acknowledge that I have a disability. For it is my experience, because I use a wheelchair to get around, that people look at me through a different lens. I would like to also acknowledge that it’s difficult for me to get across the nature of how having a disability has affected my life. On the one hand, I’d be remiss if I didn’t stress the difficulties and challenges that it brings. However, I would like to do this without creating a sense of pity towards me or others who experience barriers pertaining to their disability. There are difficulties that people with disabilities face and many of them are largely due to lack of understanding or sometimes lack of care by those who would have a much easier time fixing them. But pity is not the response that I would ask for as I explain these difficulties. Rather, I would ask for empathy so that you may understand the nuanced struggles that people with disabilities face. And perhaps in doing so we may gain a greater understanding of each other, so that we can move forward into a more inclusive world.

When I was asked to tell the inspirational story of my life, I wasn’t sure how to do that, nor did I even know what that meant. After much deliberation, I came to the conclusion that what others meant by this, was that it’s inspiring to see me succeeding in spite of my very visible difficulties. I’ve heard many variations of this statement from many different people. I've had strangers come up to me and say that I inspire them just by going to the park. I’ve also had strangers come up to me and say how sorry they are for the tough hand that I’ve been dealt. Friends have said variations of. I’m glad you’re able to do this. It must be difficult not being able to do much. Even members of my family have said how proud they are of me for making the best out of the difficult condition which is having a disability. However, even though I’ve heard the statement “it’s inspiring to see you succeeding in spite of your disability” said by many people in my life, I’ve never understood or believed it. I don’t put effort into pursuing academics, playing trumpet, finding ways to engage in sports, etc. because I want to be seen as inspiring. I do these things because I enjoy them. Sure, they come with extra challenges because of my disability, but I don’t see how that should be a reason for me not to do the things I enjoy. Just because I have a disability doesn't mean that I’m disabled. By this I mean, I have a disability and it’s changed my perspective in both positive and negative ways, but my disability doesn’t disable me.

Throughout my life, I’ve been through some very good times and some very challenging times. I have been blessed with the ability to have amazing opportunities to travel, experience new things, and explore my interests. Right now is a time of transition as I look forward to graduation in just over a month and starting post-secondary education not long after that. Looking back on my life, I’ve also been through times of immense struggle. There are two events in particular that immediately come to mind. The COVID-19 pandemic was a difficult time for me. At first, the messaging, as we all may recall, was that everything would be back to normal in a couple weeks. But as the weeks, months, and years drew on, it seemed that it would never end. I remember the phrase “we must look for the light at the end of the tunnel” becoming very common amongst my family at this time. I think the isolation of that time weighed on us all quite heavily, including myself. I remember feeling like these difficult times would never end, and that “our new reality” -as it was coming to be called- would go on forever. Despair and isolation was a feeling so common that it was difficult to name its lingering presence. Also, during the heart of Covid, I underwent a full spinal fusion surgery. It was something that I knew I needed to get, but the dread that preceded it was intense for years leading up to it. The recovery process was very long as well. I think it’s safe to say that the months immediately preceding and following my surgery are some of the worst months of my life. I remember every Monday me and my family would go to Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park, which is on the way to Cochrane, just to get out of the house. I vividly recall being so socially anxious that I would be afraid to say hi to the people we walked by as we were walking. This tendency persisted, even after the COVID-19 pandemic was lifting. As I was re-introducing myself to society I began to acknowledge the extent to which my social anxiety was impacting my life. This was around the same time that I started coming to church more regularly. This church was a place where I began to feel a sense of community and I feel that going to church with my grandfather helped me come out of my shell. Having God with me through the difficult time both through mass and prayer was a huge support. Knowing that a Being was looking out for me from above and being able to trust that things would get better, was what allowed for things to get better. It’s funny looking back on these times in my life. There was a time that I thought I would never be comfortable talking to people or that the light at the end of the tunnel would never come. But here we are now, I am giving a speech to all of you and we are standing in broad daylight.

More information about his foundation https://www.starrattfamilyfoundation.com/