Dear Reader

Living in Hope in Today's World

We love where we live and mostly this is because of the people who live and work throughout our neighbourhood: people from the United Kingdom, the Philipines, Malaysia, India, China, the Middle East and Africa, to name a few.

Our little street reflects this mix as well. I marvel at the empathy and respect we have for each other's culture and way of life. Most of all, I notice the depth of love and compassion threaded throughout our interactions with each other.

Maybe this is rare and a reflection of my conscious decision to surround myself with people who care about the welfare of others. But I don't think so. I notice kindness and respect wherever we go - the bus drivers, other travellers, people who serve at the supermarket and other stores, customers, fellow walkers.

Our local cafe and the gym are amongst our favourite places. At our coffee get togethers after our gym class the conversation often turns to our individual ethnic backgrounds and our diversity of cultures. The cafe is run by a Chinese couple who love to make everyone feel special. And the atmosphere reflects their attitude. We have lived in our current home for over five years now and we met many who we count as dear friends at the cafe. The gym is also a warm friendly place where we've met people we've come to value and care about.

In spite of this very comforting and joyous social environment, I've recently been experiencing feelings of hopelessness. Throughout my life I've lived in hope that during my lifetime the world John Lennon sang of in his song Imagine would come to pass. After all, so many of us had/have that same hope.

Unfortunately, political leadership doesn't appear to reflect the same level of compassion and respect for those they govern - for those who elected them. With the world being more accessible, an awareness of the diversity of cultures and lifestyles hasn't led to a world of respect for others.

I've come to see that it isn't enough to live with love and compassion in our own world of our local communities. We need that attitude to be embraced by our leaders and be extended to other nations and people throughout the world.

I'm dreaming, I guess, if I hope for a reversal of what I see currently. Compassion in general is not perceived as a valid attribute in leadership. The thought, for example, is that economics may suffer if we commit to putting an end to homelessness and inequities.

My first draft of this newsletter centred around a series of videos we have recently watched. We have both loved our opportunities to visit other countries and would like to do more of that as we are now retired. However, we have chosen to holiday close to home, and not add to the burden of global warming.

To feed our hunger for experiencing the beauty and complexity of other countries and people, we've taken to watching YouTube videos. We've visited the beauty of diverse countries such as Africa, Iran, Latvia, Montenegro, and Lord Howe Island along with our YouTube guides. We've also delved into the sciences to understand how our world is formed and more about the diversity of fauna.

But threaded throughout all these videos is the reminder that violence has shaped the landscape since ancient times. Walls were constructed for protection from invaders. Magnificent edifices were constructed as symbols of power. There's a thread of needing to protect resources as much as people that permeates the narratives.

Even today, as it's been for centuries, environmental destruction and human suffering is the result of others greed for resources and power.

I started to ask Why? Why are we still doing this to each other and to Papatuanuku/Gaia/Mother Earth? And then I realised that that's not the question.

The questions might be twofold. How and When? When will we, the ordinary people who are not represented in our leaders and others who's hunger is for resources and power, when will we raise our voices loud enough to be honoured? And How will we be heard?

Are we part of the solution or are we the problem? Is that the question?

I don't know - are these the questions? What are the consequences of doing what we are always doing?

A shift has to come if humanity is to survive here on the earth.

I invite you to join this discussion. I don't have the answers, and as you see I don't even know if I have the questions. What I do have is an ache in my core for how nations cannot live in harmony with each other and the earth.

This ache surfaced after my last newsletter - and I want to close now with a sentence from my closing paragraph:

And may I add:

With love, always,
Stephanie

Why I Write - for you and for me too.

Some stories come from lived experience, like navigating my son’s addiction and the long road of recovery. Others are shaped by imagination, like the cozy mystery I’m writing, set in a small café where trust is both tested and rebuilt. Some of my life stories still bring tears. Others make me smile. And many are filled with memories that warm my heart.

I write for anyone who’s ever carried a burden across generations, and for anyone who longs to heal forward.

I write to bring a little encouragement, comfort and joy into my life and yours.

With love,
Stephanie

My thoughts for Living Life in 2026 and beyond:

"My religion is kindness"

Dalai Lama

“Cast your bread upon the waters and it will
come back - buttered”

Doris May Payne - my mother

"Life is a Daring Adventure or Nothing"

Helen Keller

“Write it on my heart that every day is
the best day of the year”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Remember that sometimes not getting
what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck"
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Dalai Lama

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave [person] is not [the one] who does not feel afraid, but [the one] who conquers that fear.”

Nelson Mandela

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www.StephanieHammondAuthor.com

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