The underlying theme in most of my articles has been about hope, setting goals, not giving up, and reaching one’s full potential. But what do you do when you are not sure? I recently saw a movie entitled “Doubt” that gave me a different perspective on a word that is the antithesis of hope.

Remember that moment on 9/11 when you first experienced the devastation of the twin towers and the chaos in the streets of New York? The questions we asked ourselves: how did that happen? Now what? What do we do?  

Or more recently when the financial institutions had a meltdown, banks folded, the real estate market went into the tank, auto industry on the brink of disaster; there were mortgage foreclosures, cut backs, and layoffs. Although it was a trickle down effect weren’t the questions the same. What do I say to my kids? What do I say to myself?

The question I raise is this; how much worse is it then for the lone individual who is stricken by a personal calamity? “No one knows I am sick!” “No one knows I lost my best friend!” “No one knows I have done something wrong!” Imagine the isolation because we see the world as a window. On one side of the glass happy untroubled people, on the other side we see ourselves.

Along these lines I want to relate to you a story that was told within that film. A cargo ship sank one night; it caught fire and went down. One sailor survived. He found a lifeboat, rigged a sail and being of a nautical discipline, turned his eyes to the heavens and read the stars. He set his course for home and exhausted fell asleep.

Clouds rolled in and for the next twenty nights he could no longer see the stars. He thought he was on course but there was no way to be certain. As the days rolled on and the sailor wasted away he began to have his doubts. Had he set his course right? Was he still going on his course home? Or was he totally lost and doomed to a terrible death? No way to know! The message of the consolations, had he imagined it because of his desperate circumstances or had he seen truth once and now had to hold on to it without any further reassurance?

There may be some of you, who when reading this article, know exactly the crisis of hope I describe. What I want to say is that doubt can be a bond as powerful and sustainable as certainty, so when you feel lost you are not alone. If you want help and reassurance you are on the right course, then NaVOBA is there to help.

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