“Hope is the power of being cheerful in circumstances that we know to be desperate.”
― G.K. Chesterton
Ten years ago, I brought a large group of kids to see Blessed Pope John Paul II in Toronto for World Youth Day. We left early in the morning by bus, arrived at the registration area in Toronto at around 7 PM and finally boarded the metro at 11 PM to go to our lodging at a Catholic school outside of Toronto. Our kids were exhausted, as were all the kids on the metro…and then an Australian priest approached me and said, “Father, let’s try to lift the spirits of these kids…our group will sing “Waltzing Matilda”, could your group sing a song as well?” Within minutes the entire metro train was joyfully singing “Waltzing Matilda” and then “The Littlest Worm” (a funny song about a worm getting stuck in a soda straw…). It was close to midnight, we were really tired after a long day of travels, but this Australian priest and his kids injected real joy into a tough situation.
