I remember a powerful scene in the movie Shawshank Redemption. Andy has just gotten out of the hole after spending a month there for playing music over the intercom system - music that awakened something in the inmates they had forgotten or never knew existed. One of the inmates comments about how difficult and lonely it is in the hole. Andy responds:
Andy: I had Mr. Mozart to keep me company...[points and taps his head.] It was in here. [gestures over his heart] And in here. That's the beauty of music. They can't get that from you. Haven't you ever felt that way about music?
Red: Well... I played a mean harmonica as a younger man. Lost interest in it, though. Didn't make too much sense in here.
Andy: No, here's where it makes the most sense. You need it so you don't forget.
Red: Forget?
Andy: That there are places in the world that aren't made out of stone. That there's... there's somethin' inside that they can't get to; that they can't touch. It's yours.
Red: What are you talkin' about?
Andy: Hope.
Red: Hope? Let me tell you something, my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane. It's got no use on the inside. You'd better get used to that idea.
Andy: Like Brooks did?
Although I've never been in prison (so far) I understand exactly what Red is saying. But several weeks ago I was sharing with friends and realized that hope no longer felt dangerous to me. It felt like something precious of mine, like a bird that I needed to care for and protect no matter what happened in the "real" world. I was reminded of Thumbelina, a favorite fairy tale from childhood. In the story, a woman who had no children dreamed about having a little girl but the dream never came true. She went to a witch who gave her a magic grain of barley, which the woman planted. The grain turned into a lovely flower and inside it was a little girl no bigger than a thumb. Thumbelina is snatched by a frog, a beetle, and a spider, and eventually ends up with a field mouse whose plan is to marry Thumbelina to a rich mole. She's already been through alot, and now this! It looks like she'll be married to an old furry half-blind mole and stuck in dark underground tunnels for the rest of her life. During a visit to the mole the field mouse and Thumbelina come across a swallow that looks dead. The mole nudges the bird and says, "That'll teach her! She should have come underground instead of darting about the sky all summer!" That sounds a little like something Red might say. The mole's words horrify Thumbelina who secretly nurses the swallow back to health. The bird carries Thumbelina off to freedom and of course, she meets her prince.
