When Can and Should We Hope? How and Why?
Reflections on the hopefully universal case for hope, at work and in life, through the prism of my relationship with the IIS
Hello Dear,
We have heard the saying, “well-begun is half-done”. I am wondering whether another equally valid saying could simply be “begun is half-done”. Yes, just making a beginning and just taking the leap might constitute a major part of our battle to remain consistent. And indeed, consistency is key to growth, to achieving anything meaningful, isn’t it? As they say, “showing up” is of foundational importance to progress.
It is showing up, day after day, even and especially when we face the biggest obstacles, that allows us to learn and grow, to expand our horizons.
It is this consistency which enables us to reap the benefits of compound interest, which Albert Einstein is said to have referred to as the eighth wonder of the world.
Incidentally, I got the good fortune to attend YouTube Civics Summit 2023 in New Delhi the day before yesterday (September 14, 2023), and consistency in publishing videos has been highlighted as a key ingredient for content creators to succeed on the world’s largest video sharing platform.
So here I am once again, with no definite plan on what to write today, but aspiring to share something of value with you, some reflections from my “experiences of inexperience”, which I hope will help you in some way either today or some day.
And before we come to today’s post, in case you are coming to this #NotJust Newsletter for the first time, you can check out all the posts of One Doubt Please here. Feel free to spread the word with others, and subscribe to the newsletter to get new posts delivered to your email.
Fine, coming to today’s post, let us start with a thread which emerges from the previous post, on public service broadcasting, where we discussed the role of a public service broadcaster, through the prism of how and why a public service broadcaster should compete. But no, today’s post is not on public service broadcasting; it is on something which is decidedly much more general. It is on a question which I believe is of universal concern. It is on hope, that precious fuel which keeps most of us trudging forward through the chequered journey of life, through its various ups and downs.
From Public Service Broadcasting to Public Hope
What is this thread which connects public service broadcasting and hope? Come to think of it, there could indeed be a direct link there which strikes me now. How come? Is public hope - hope for a better future among the citizenry - a public good? If so, does or does not the state need to play an active role in the creation, nurturing and diffusion of this public good? If so, does or does not a public service broadcaster need to take up this responsibility as a crucial part of its mission? If our answer to each of these questions is yes, then, it follows that a public service broadcaster has to propagate hope among the public, recognizing it as a vital public service in the larger public good.
Please note that the above statement is conditional; I am not saying that a public service broadcaster has to necessarily be a Public Hope Builder. I am only stating that this would be so, if the above conditions are satisfied. I think we need to explore the philosophical foundations of these questions in greater depth, before we could establish that a public service broadcaster is mandated with the mission of building public hope. [Hope to explore this later.]
Well, I am delighted to have now discovered at least one example of public broadcasters being explicitly encouraged to build hope: the “Broadcasting Hope” Public Media Grant Awards by Florida Humanities. And besides this, we know that most public broadcasters do seek to or presume to promote hope among the citizenry, by highlighting the good which is happening, often even by excluding what might qualify as unsalutary developments.
Ok, so coming back, if this is not the connection we were coming to, what is the thread which emerges from the previous post, which connects with hope, the topic for today?
The Utopianism of The Inexperienced?
This thread emerged at a conversation I had with a dear friend and fellow IIS officer. You know, I jokingly and laughingly asked him when I met him the day before yesterday, whether, by any remote chance, he happened to open or read my previous post, on public service broadcasting. Joining me in laughter, my friend replied: “Your view on pubic service broadcasting is utopian, since you have not had an experience of Akashvani or Doordarshan. Before coming to Press Information Bureau (PIB), I too had utopian views on PIB, but once I worked in PIB, my views changed.”
[Important in-between clarification: I had shared a preview of this post with someone I look up to, before making it public. Reading it, she got the impression that I am referring to organizations such as Akashvani, Doordarshan and PIB as institutions where reforms are not possible! It was eye-opening for me, since this is absolutely not what I mean here, which is why I am adding this clarificatory paragraph. My idea here is to share a point of view (that too one which has been espoused by my friend) who said that once we work in these organizations, we tend to truncate the utopian aspirations we might have had previously for those organizations. I would like to further emphasize that I believe this is in all likelihood a universal phenomenon - universal to any organization or social institution - and not specific to the aforementioned institutions. In other words, replace Akashvani, Doordarshan and PIB above by any organization, and these statements should hold true!]
So, coming back…I find my friend’s statement to be quite an interesting argument. What about you? I believe what my friend implied is that once we get a taste of “reality”, of the real state of affairs, then we automatically come to the ground and truncate our aspirations. In other words, we become “practical”, being in better touch with what can be achieved in “the real world”. This could also be regarded as we becoming humble and grounded.
And my friend is of course not alone in voicing this critique about me and my views concerning our profession. Quite a few other of my colleagues too have expressed similar points of view in stronger terms, in the form of criticism rather than critique. One of them has said that my views and arguments are not helpful or practical since they do not take cognizance of the political and ideological constraints which the governance environment faces and has to face.
Some other of my colleagues have often questioned me implicitly or explicitly, asking me whether I am closing my cognitive eyes to the reality in front of me, in expressing the high aspirations which I tend to articulate every now and then. And I suspect that countless other colleagues hold the same or similar views about me; it might just be that I do not know of their views, since they either hold them in private or they might have shared it with others but not me.
Yet other of my colleagues and relatives too have expressed gross skepticism, even certain hopelessness, about the possibility of bringing about fundamental positive changes in “the system”. Here is what one competent and well-meaning senior officer once told me: “If you are thinking of reforming the system, just forget it, you will not be able to do that.”
And over the years, I have heard from multiple people, both serving civil servants as well as those outside, giving well-intentioned and considerate advice, that “you should resign”, that “you do not belong here”, that “you are wasting your time here”, and so on.
Well, before I share with you my response to the above statements, some of which could also be looked upon as accusations, about me and my views, it is important to point out that I am not saying or implying that I am the only one who holds such high aspirations and aims for change. Of course, it is #NotJust me; you know that it cannot be otherwise. Let me just clarify that I too am not claiming to be so. 🙂 There are very many people including among my colleagues who have been or appear to be more hopeful than I am, who have braved great odds yet remain hopeful and enthusiastic about the present and the future and are working towards the same. There are also some who are excited about developments which I find myself to be not enthused about (well, in part, this divergence is due to my being not persuaded by the reasons and grounds on which the hope of some of my colleagues seem to be resting).
Further, it is also not the case that I have been hopeful all the time. As I keep sharing now and then, especially in personal conversations, I have had my share of moments of crisis and hopelessness. In a sense, I think it may well have been a dance, an alternation, between hope and hopelessness. I have however been staying the course, striving to find and create hope, in the belief that this is what we should be doing. Hope to share more on this later, in another post.
Now, before I share my responses to my colleagues’ critiques, reservations and criticisms, let us explore a very interesting strain of thought which occurred to me the day before yesterday morning, on the way to the event where I met my friend.
The Hypocrisy of Hope?
You know, I was wondering whether there could be situations where entertaining hope could be nothing less than hypocrisy! And I did not just wonder, I sent out this message to a few close friends.
“A doubt which occurred to me some time back: is expressing high aspirations a form of hypocrisy? In other words, could there be circumstances where hope itself is nothing but hypocritical? Maybe one among the more dangerous and detestable hypocrisies?”
Why did this doubt occur to me? One of the reasons has indeed been my own writings as well as other expressions of high aspirations and statements of positive possibilities for our profession, coupled with my doubts and failures to translate many of these ideas and aspirations into “reality” or “action”. I was wondering whether expressing high aspirations could hence be a most convenient, deceptively simple, highly alluring and most dangerous escape from our own - and my own - failures and shortcomings.
Come to think of it, I believe this is an essential ingredient of politics as well, isn’t it? And as such, the above behaviour can itself be regarded as nothing but political as well. Here is an article which examines the politics of aspirations, which makes the following observation:
…aspiration also has a dark side and can be manipulated to dodge accountability, postpone action, and serve private, rather than public, goals.
Indeed, I remind myself that I should not let expression of aspirations be or become a substitute for the hard work of bringing those aspirations alive, in whatever little way.
That said, I find that this is a fundamental dilemma which arises in how one nurtures talent, how one instills change in oneself and others. Here is the deal. Say, your child or friend is feeling distressed and diffident, having failed in something. Do you focus only on the positive side, disregarding certain facts of her supposed or real failure, so as to encourage her to roll her sleeves up and strive again? Or do you seek to encourage her by confronting her with both the positives and “the negatives” or the uncomfortable facts, so that her effort is guided by the force of the full facts, or at least a fuller version of the facts than what would have been comfortable or convenient?
Now, I understand that there are many who believe that we have to maintain a relentless focus on “the positive”, even and especially in the gravest crisis. Quite interestingly:
This paradigm, this principle, of focusing only on the positive, is increasingly being adopted, not just in the arena of interpersonal relationships, but also in the relationship between the state and its citizens. So, under the garb or pretext of doing this, nations and entire societies can end up shutting themselves off from the unpalatable truth, purportedly for the sake of the larger public good.
Now, it could very well be that our answer to this question in the case of individual motivation can very well be different from that in the case of motivation of the public at large. In other words, the answer for the individual need not necessarily scale to the level of that of a society or nation. I think this makes it all the more important that we examine these questions carefully.
On a similar note, I am reminded of a brief argument I had many years ago, with a dear friend and fellow IIS Officer. It was regarding the training and mentorship we give to incoming IIS officers, who have newly joined the service, who are known as IIS Officer Trainees (OTs) during their training period. I was of the opinion that we should not shy away from apprising IIS OTs of the real state of affairs; I believed and still believe that they are and should be taught to be and become mature enough to come to a wise point of view on the service, based on diverse yet honest inputs and perspectives they get from different people. However, my friend was of the view that no, the OTs are fresh into the service, we should only tell them about the positive side of the service, we should not discourage them by revealing all facts.
So, where do I stand? I hope this becomes clear in the remainder of this post.
Ok, let me now venture to share with you my responses to the critiques voiced or harboured by my colleagues - critiques which we have briefly looked at in the beginning of this post. And here is a mid-post clarification. Why am I sharing all this about me? I am emboldened to do so, in the hope that these experiences are #NotJust about me; I am sharing these thoughts, in the belief that many of these concerns, especially the question of hope, are universal. And hence, I hope that these will find some resonance with you and your life journey.
Ok, over to my responses…
Why We Need to Know the Ideal
Let us start with our friend and my colleague, who said my views about public service broadcasting are utopian precisely because of my lack of experience in public broadcasting.
Now, for one, I do not quite agree with him that I do not have an experience of public broadcasting. Because, in my view, this depends on our definition of experience. I would like to believe that I do have some experience in public broadcasting, even after discounting the brief two-month-period I worked in Akashvani when I was an IIS Officer Trainee. This is based on an expansive view of what constitutes experience, a view which also accords a lot of weight to the value of reflecting on our experiences. Here is something on the same.
But let us leave aside the question of definition of experience. In conventional lay-person terms, I have but little experience of public broadcasting. However, as my friend himself too acknowledged, the reason I expressed my views on how public service broadcasting should be and become, is not out of the naive hope or belief that this ideal would be realized. It is not based on the hope that this ideal will be translated into reality, with little or even a lot of difficulty. Rather, it is based on the following belief and conviction.
Unless we know the ideal, as to how our profession should be and become, how can we work towards it? Without a common exploration and shared point of view on who we are to be and become as professionals, how can we shape, mould and lead ourselves closer and closer towards that state of being and becoming?
In other words, the quest to know the ideal, of what should be, is more to know how to chart our path towards what, rather than to sell the pipedream that we can achieve it effortlessly.
In fact, it is not just to know the path; a vision - a bold and courageous vision - can and might well be necessary to inspire ourselves and our people towards higher levels of excellence, and better ways of being and becoming.
Moreover, the greater the gap between the aspirational ideal and the present reality, the more important it is for us to know, understand and interrogate the ideal, the reality and the gap. What say?
To encapsulate:
We need to reflect on how and why to be and become, in order to know where to steer ourselves, and how to get there. Otherwise, we will be a rudderless ship.
Having said this, I find a lot of merit in my friend’s argument, of the importance of skin in the game. Embedding oneself in an environment, putting oneself on the line, can very well change one’s perspective. In particular, it could very well puncture our carefully constructed web of hope as well.
The Case for Rational Hope
Having underlined the need to know and reflect on the ideal, I would like to share my views on how our hope should be. I have held that it is necessary that our efforts to realize our aspirations, and even the timeline and choice of our aspirations, are grounded in current realities, based on a cool-headed and warm-hearted understanding and appreciation of as full a version of the facts as we can gather, within real constraints of time and energy. In this sense, I think I have been striving to adopt an approach where one never ceases to strive for the ideal, but at the same time, remains cognizant of the current realities which need to be negotiated along the way.
In other words, as a matter of principle, I would want to discourage in both myself and others, what I may refer to as shallow hope. Where one simply plays along with the group, where one just joins the popular chorus, a kind of playing to the gallery. I would rather want my hope to embrace a sound understanding, appreciation and curiosity regarding the realities which concern our worlds - the world outside as well as the world within our being. And interestingly, having committed ourselves to embracing and learning reality, the hope can either spring from the inherent positives of the reality, or equally or even more forcefully from the inherent “negatives” of this reality. In this sense, as I happened to tell a dear friend and colleague just yesterday, suffering is the surest source of joy and wisdom. What appears to us as adversity may very well be our biggest strength, an asset for now and for the future.
This interesting dynamic brings us to the next point.
The Case for Irrational Hope
As I write these words, I am reminded of the phrase “irrational exuberance”, used originally by Alan Greenspan, then-Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of the USA, 27 years back, during the dot-com crisis of the 1990s. Yes, he was raising a red flag, alright. But is there a case for irrational hope?
You know, this question reminds me of something from my childhood. My father, whom I love and respect very much, used to tell me and my two younger brothers (my little sister was not born then) that the ability to think and act practically is a key factor which decides our success in life. And to be clear, by practical, he did not at all mean that we compromise our values or principles, or that we take shortcuts. I think what he meant is to be realistic, and to think and act based on how life and the world really is.
However, I think this is one lesson from my father, which I did not imbibe and have not yet imbibed (another one is that I should read newspapers, I don’t!). My approach has been, it appears to me perhaps, of challenging the very concept of being practical. How do we define what is and what is not practical, after all? Ha, no wonder then that quite a few people call me as ”academic”, some in a positive way, some in a pejorative way. Over time, my conviction has only become stronger, that the boundaries between theory and practice are artificial.
It is theory which is not grounded in practice, and practice which is not grounded in theory, which malign both theory and practice. In other words, it is our inability to integrate theory and practice which makes these as two distinct and disconnected endeavours. As Kurt Levin said, there is nothing so practical as a good theory.
So, what we are getting to is this:
There is a very rational case for hope which is irrational!
Yes, I believe, and I hope you would agree, that hope flows not only from an acceptance of reality, but also by challenging and shaping it. After all, we know only what we know, but we don’t know infinitely much more than what we know we don’t know. Let us not hence underestimate the ability of the universe and we ourselves to surprise ourselves. In thinking about change and our potential, I often think of this ode to unreasonableness, by George Bernard Shaw.
Yes, I believe all of us, each one of us, is called upon to do #NotJust what is possible.
Our calling is to do #NotJust the possible, but the impossible. To extend the horizons of the possible.
And in line with my commitment to recommend at least one book in every article, here goes the book recommendation for today: The Art of Impossible: A Peak Performance Primer. [I have not read this fully, but I have read parts of it, hope to finish reading it latest within a month].
I think it is quite natural for us to doubt ourselves, whenever we hear anyone say something like this. I too wonder whether I am being proud and conceited in thinking such thoughts. However, I think we have almost surely got this wrong. We have got the equation inverted.
Where does true humility lead us? I am thinking it leads us not to a tacit acquiescence and comfortable acceptance of our visible limits, but on a quest to stretch those limits continuously, in fulfillment of our high aspirations to be and become of ever-greater service for others, for the larger good, even if it be in little things, in small steps.
Maybe it should be easier for us to accept this if we pause and realize that ultimately, everything we have, our very identity and existence, is a gift. So, our achievements do not need to make us so proud. Rather, the full and free expression of our gifts is nothing but a natural outcome and consequence of being true to who we are, of multiplying and giving back the gifts we have received, so that the gifts become further multiplied, in both us and in others.
And hence we do not hence need to be afraid that aiming high is tantamount to being vain, proud or conceited. In other words, we do not need to be afraid of success! Yes, you heard it right, let us work on conquering #NotJust our fear of failure, but our fear of success as well.
Well dear, you can observe that we have hopefully addressed a fair share of the points we set out to. In particular, I have attempted to present my understanding of my relationship with hope, in the professional context. However, in so doing, it dawns on me that this post has become much longer than I anticipated. So, let me quickly wind up for today, with the promise to come back to these concerns in future posts.
The Question of Reforming The System
“The system”. And the vexatious question of reforming or transforming it. Let us end this post with the beginning! Yes, I call it “the beginning”, simply because this is arguably one of the motivations - and definitely a primary professed motivation - for many civil servants who enter or aspire to enter the civil service.
So, what do I have to say about the statements made by my colleagues who say that it is futile to think of staying on in the hope of reforming the system? To answer briefly…
Yes, it is a difficult and disturbing question…will all that we do amount to anything if we are fundamentally not serving the public good? But then, on the one hand, I seek to “stay positive” and find the good which can be done, even within what I regard as the vanities, depravities and perversities of the larger game. Of course, this also entails serious self-reflection, to correct, refine and grow myself as a human being and professional; after all, I need to continuously examine my looking glasses, and the prisms through which I view, understand and respond to the world. After all, it might very well be that it is my perspective which is mistaken and faulty, not that of the system! It might be that it is only I who is unable to see my failures, who is unable or even resisting the need to embrace change.
On the other hand, I am keeping myself patient, valuing the experience I am accumulating as a precious crucible which I hope will bear increasingly valuable fruits in me and in others with the passage of time. As pointed out before in this post, I am convinced that suffering is the key to blessedness, to salvation, both here on earth and beyond. Therefore, I seek to find opportunity in problems, and even when the problem is not solved, I believe I learn and enjoy immensely from my reflective analysis and discussion of the same. As I am doing now, with you.
Fourthly, I think it is important to remember that it is the patient, and not a healthy person, who needs the doctor. I believe we need hard-working and well-intentioned people to take up missions and responsibilities which are the most difficult, the least coveted and the most essential. It is broken systems which are in need of reforms, more than well-functioning systems which need tweaks.
On similar lines, we need to be careful to not equate failure of a system with the failure of everyone in the system. I have written in a little more detail on these last two points, in an article on the self-obsession of the Indian Administrative Service with itself, as a system. Read this here.
Coming back to “the beginning”, i.e., the professed motivation of incoming civil servants, of reforming the system, I have often thought and still think that reform has become so difficult - and is regarded as impossible - simply and mainly because it is regarded as difficult and impossible! In other words, it is a vicious cycle, a self-perpetuating feedback loop, where expectations drive actions which in turn drive expectations and so on, in an infinite loop. Every new civil servant is conditioned by “the system”, to adopt its ways, to adapt to its ways. Lamentably, in this process, the (civil) servants shed their idealism too, which is likely to have brought them in, in the first place.
I would like us to ask ourselves: why should this be so? Why should it be so that civil servants lose their idealism to “the system”?
The biggest challenge of growing up is to remain childlike, while ceasing to be childish. Can our children not “grow up”, while retaining their childlikeness?
Here is a related question. Why do we say that it is only incremental change which is possible in the system? True, challenges and obstacles are aplenty, numerous; but could this be a dogma, which remains true mainly because we believe this to be so? If this is indeed a dogma, could this have honourable exceptions? If yes, how do we make more of those exceptions possible?
Well, there are yet other reasons due to which I am staying on in the civil service, in the Indian Information Service. One of course is my passion for the profession, my belief in the potential of the civil service, of the government and of the service and profession to which I am fortunate to belong to. You can read a little more on this here.
This is not all, there are other reasons too for my continuation. But hey, have I not said a lot already? Let me leave these other important reasons for the coming days.
So dear, thank you very much for reading this rather long and possibly very personal post! I have written this openly, as if I am speaking to a friend, someone I know, even though I understand that you, dear reader, may not know me yet, or I you. Or we may know each other, but we may perhaps think that we don’t know each other well enough; if so, maybe this post could be an opportunity to do so, even if to some little extent? Either way, I have shared these details, due in part to the joy I find in sharing my thoughts and reflections, and in part from the hope that these reflections are #NotJust mine, or of IIS or of civil service; rather, as noted earlier, I have shared these in the hope that these reflections contain some melodies, tones, baritones and undertones which have the potential to strike a chord - with everyone who needs to hear the harmonious bells of a little more hope in their life, with everyone who can spread a little more hope to the lives of others.
Another of my recent articles on hope: Why Hope is the Mother of Positive Change.
So thank you then! How did you find this article? Do share in the comments box below, or alternatively, you can write to me at newdheep@gmail.com. And do spread the word if you find this helpful. And subscribe to this #NotJust newsletter for free, to get future updates. - Dheep.