Kay:

Hey there questers and welcome back. It’s the first day of a brand new month, February 1st and this is episode 28. And, being February 1st, it also means that today is the kickoff of Black History Month.

Shi:

What that means for us is that all month long, we’re going to bring you some of the most inspiring, most impactful, favorite quotes that we can find from black leaders and influencers throughout history.

Kay:

I want to make a little note here to say that that doesn’t mean that this entire month, the Mentorship Quest will be focused on social justice, but it does mean that we will be bringing you ideas and quotes from our favorite black leaders.

Shi:

Alright, today’s quote comes from a personal favorite of ours, Mrs. Michelle Obama, former First Lady who tells us, “History has shown us that courage can be contagious, and hope can take on a life of its own.”

Kay:

Oh, I think that this is such a beautiful quote from such a beautiful woman who has seeded so much courage and hope in our country. But what I think is interesting about this quote is that while she saying this in the light of courage being a good thing and hope being a good thing, if that momentum that you’ve got going in your life is towards something that’s destructive and not constructive courage and hope can also lead you down a path that might not necessarily be what you want.

Shi:

It’s that mob mentality and a known phenomenon in social sciences as the thing that happens when a group of people make decisions and take behaviors together, collectively, that they wouldn’t necessarily do on their own. Now when applied to progress and better forces of equality and equity, we see this demonstrated into progress for humanity as a whole. But when it doesn’t, we see it sometimes turn in the other direction. So is the story of history. But I think what Michelle is helping us see here is that, when we sometimes talk about the perspective of humanity’s progress from our own personal standpoint, it can be hard to swallow because it takes so long. But when we look back, we can see that progress does happen, change does happen, and that it usually starts with a handful of individuals who with enough courage and enough hope can help make that momentum swing in any way they want.

Kay:

I think one of the best under liners of this quote is the one and only Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. If we take the second part of his quote, in which he says, “Hope can take on a life of its own,” and think about the impact that Dr. King has had on society, even past his death. The hope that he cultivated within the people of America carried on past his death and we think about Carnegie. Dale Carnegie had a vision for our nation and that carried on past his death because…hope takes on a life of its own.

Shi:

When I think about hope, I really think about it as that plus one. Zero is that completely given up, there is hope, hopeless at zero. But hope is that next step up, it’s that difference between being an integer and being a non-quantity. Hope is that next thing up that we have access to that then is the staircase up to things like courage, action, setting boundaries, and fighting for other things. But everything has to start with hope and that hope can be one of those things that are the difference-makers in a movement and in a person’s life. I mean, this is certainly resonant coming from Michelle Obama, whose husband ran on the idea of hope.

Kay:

Yes, truly. He literally had hope in, like I had an Obama shirt that said hope and the O was the Obama logo. So, this is definitely a quote that I’m sure is close to Michelle’s heart, especially in that “courage can be contagious” because she watched as her husband galvanized the millennial generation like they had never been galvanized before into the political scene and into voting and that courage for him to step up and then to step forward was contagious to those around the nation. That courage is still reverberating to this day. So, as a reminder, Michelle Obama tells us that, “History has shown us that courage can be contagious, and hope can take on a life of its own.”

Shi:

Alright, that means it’s time for your quest and since it’s the first day of the second month of the year, we have a special quest for you today. Of course, it is a Hope Quest! And your quest today is to have the courage to share your hopes and dreams for 2021 (we’re only just beginning it’s second month, and there’s still a lot of months to go!) with one other person today, and invite them to share theirs with you. How does masterminding out loud over these hopes help them to feel more real or accessible? Are you ready?

Kay & Shi:

Let’s quest!