Emotions take hold.

Day 2: Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger all play important roles in Inside Out, Pixar’s movie about the emotions inside the head of an 11-year-old girl named Riley. Now it’s your turn to let one of the emotions have control of the console. Write five or six different emotions on little slips of paper and put them in a bowl. Draw one at random. Write a review of a recent movie or TV show you’ve seen using only the one emotion you drew. ~AWAI { For Post 1 and the explanation, please head here: Day 1

Anger. Sadness. Joy. Amusement. Fear. Curiosity. Hope.

I chose hope.

Many of the people who lived in the Great Plains and the Dust Bowl region also chose hope. But just as many, if not more, didn't have any hope left.

The series of events that led up to the the Dust Bowl, started with hope for a bright future, success in farming and a life of ease. How quick that was to diminish.

Families watched loved ones fall sick and die. Farmers saw their land dry up and blow away and they watched their livestock starve and perish. And still, through the first few years, through the worst of the Dust Bowl and Great Depression, they held on to hope.

They hoped for rain that would bring relief to the scarred grasslands that once were home to the native grasses and animals. They hoped for rain that would bring their crops back which would then bring the payment they needed to survive. They hoped for the success and health of their families.

They never once hoped for relief in the form that it finally came; from the government.

They never hoped that moving on would bring the insults and nonacceptance of others who hadn't faced the same hopes...the same fears.

They never hoped that moving to the Great Plains would become the tragedy that it did.

They never expected to doubt their hope.

Hope turned to desperation. It was pushed out by fear. Hope led to sadness, anger, grief. And yet, so many held on. They held out hope that there would be better days, better times ahead.

Eventually, the choice to persevere led to renewed hope. Those who dared to hope, became heroes. Theirs is a story of perseverance, dedication and survival.

All because these people dared to hope...