In the last six months, Brexit appears to have taken a back seat to COVID-19. But regardless of the drop in press coverage, the Brexit process is moving forward, and the European Union and United Kingdom are still at loggerheads over a trade deal.

Last week Israel, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Bahrain signed a historic peace deal that is being lauded by some and criticized by others, especially by Hamas in the Palestinian territory (Al Jazeera, September 13, 2020).

It feels like bad news bombards us on every front these days. Sometimes, I mentally wince before tapping on a news app because it’s usually full of troubling headlines. The COVID-19 pandemic seems to have intensified many already existing problems, and the continual cycle of stressful news has caused increased suffering from stress, anxiety, and depression, as many articles have recently shown.

We live in trying and stressful times. Now, more than ever, we need to have hope. Today, hope is generally considered a feeling of wishing for or desiring something. Is that the kind of hope we need?

People say things like “I hope our team wins” or “I hope I get this job.” We desire these things to happen, considering our preferred outcome possible but not assured.