Last month at the Democratic National Convention, Michelle Obama declared, “hope is making a comeback.”

She is right. Hope is making a comeback. 

But there’s a caveat: for hope to be an effective message, it has to be earned.

Let me tell you a short story about that. 

When I first moved to Toronto, a colleague of mine started calling me ‘Ray of Sunshine.’ That’s because I’ve always tried to look for silver linings. I come from a family of optimists and positive people. 

And then … came the pandemic. 

Sure, we had sourdough starters. Margarita Mondays. Or in my case, virtual watch parties for a so-bad-it’s-good Australian teen soap opera about mermaids.

But we also had the economy turn upside-down. We had divisive political debates on lockdowns and vaccines that pushed us apart. And we had travel restrictions that strangled travel plans for weddings, funerals, and holidays.

So yeah, it’s not surprising that since 2020 it’s been harder to feel hopeful.

But those feelings are starting to evolve.

If you take a look at what’s resonating with audiences in 2024, those negative feelings are giving way to a rebellious kind of joy.

It’s Chappell Roan singing about being “so sick of online love” and demanding a song “with a f***ing beat,” dancing her way to a sustained run near the top of the charts.

It’s Ryan Reynolds hamming it up to the Backstreet Boys in red and black spandex and saving Marvel at the box office.

It’s the explosion of video games like Overwatch 2, Valorant, Star Wars: Hunters, and Concord trying to emulate the gleeful cartoon destruction made popular by Fortnite.

It’s Charli XCX’s brat summer, Gen Z’s embrace of ‘dumbphones’ with no social media, and the 82% increase in viewers for the Paris Olympics compared to Tokyo in 2021. 

None of these things are exactly like each other, and the drivers of their success are all a bit different.

But there are two clear trends here.

First is that we’re fed up with the anger, panic, and despair that have come so easily to us since 2020 and we’re starting to do something about it. 

Second is that we’re replacing those negative feelings by finding things that bring us joy, confidence, and hope.

We are ready to hope again because we’ve been through some hard stuff, and we’ve earned it.

That’s why when President Biden passed the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris with patriotism and grace, he opened the door for hope to make its political comeback.

Which brings us back to the Democratic National Convention last month. Specifically, to one key moment featuring Gus Walz. Gus is the 17-year-old son of Democratic Vice Presidential candidate and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. During his Wednesday night speech, Governor Walz told the story of how he and his wife struggled with infertility for years before his kids were born. At the end of the story, cameras caught his son’s reaction when Governor Walz said:

“Hope, Gus and Gwen, you’re my whole world and I love you.”

Gus then leapt up, pointed to the podium, turned to the crowd and yelled through tears of joy, “That’s my dad!” (Lloyd recently did a reel about the power and authenticity of this moment). 

And yeah, Canada and the U.S. aren’t the same. The challenges they’re facing are different from ours. But we both went through the pandemic. We’ve both got scars from that experience. And I believe we’re both ready to hope again.

So comms pros, remember this when you’re writing: We’re all ready to hope again.

But don’t forget that hope has to be earned. Hope’s made a comeback because it’s a reaction to four years of anger, panic, and despair. 

You must recognize what we’ve all been through and how we’ll never be the same. Then and only then can you empower us to transform pain into something better.

That’s how you earn hope.

 

Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty