Hope
Its Relation to Perseverance
Jimmy Butler - Hoping for Good
Jimmy Butler is currently a shooting guard who plays for the Chicago Bulls, but he went through a lot before his fame. First, his father left him when he was very young. Then, when he was thirteen his mother kicked him out of her house, and as her last words to him she said, “I don’t like the look of you. You gotta go.” Young Jimmy was alone and without a home or any money, so not long after, he had to start moving around from house to house. At last, when Jimmy Butler was a senior in high school, the Leslie family let him live with them even though they already had children to take care of. At the same time, his high school basketball coach and principal did not believe that he would succeed. Even though they did not believe in him, Jimmy did not lose hope in himself and kept on striving to be better. After high school, he enrolled into a junior college. Not long after, better colleges were offering him scholarships. At last, he chose to attend and play basketball at Marquette, where he hoped that he would be successful enough to play in the NBA, but he still got a degree in case things did not go as planned. In the end, he did end up successful on the night when he heard his named called out as the thirtieth pick of the first round in the 2011 NBA Draft by the Chicago Bulls. After playing with the Bulls for four years, Jimmy Butler made his NBA All-Star Game debut in 2015, and not long after, he won the Kia NBA Most Improved Player Award. In addition, he was honored on the NBA All-Defensive Second Team in 2014 and 2015. Overall, Jimmy Butler always had hope through all of the adversities that came in his way.
More About Jimmy Butler's Past
The Lillard Family - Hoping for a Change
Damian Lillard is currently a point guard who plays for the Portland Trail Blazers. Damian Lillard has played in the NBA for three years and has been very successful. He won Kia Rookie of the Year and played in the All-Star Game twice. Many find Damian’s early success surprising, but his mother does not. His mother, Gina Johnson, used to have a job, and she had work for most of the day with bad health. Young Damian realized that the problem was that his mother was in pain and he hoped that he could do something for her, so he thought of one possible solution to help his mother more. This led to Damian trying to convince his mother not to worry. She claims that he once said something like, “Mom, you’re not going to have to worry about anything. Mom, I’m going to go to college. I’ve been getting good grades but I’m going to keep getting good grades. I’m going to graduate from college with good grades, and after that I’m going to the NBA, and when I go the NBA I’m going to get rookie of the year. And then when I get rookie of the year, I’m going to the All-Stars. I’m going to be like Michael Jordan. I’m going to be getting me a whole lot of the awards.” One challenge for the family was needing Damian to get a scholarship because it was not affordable. Everything Damian Lillard said was one possible solution, but he had to persevere to accomplish all of those goals. Damian’s mother and sister, DaNae, hoped that Damian would succeed to support their family. Overall, the Lillard family had hope that Damian would live up to his dream, so that they could live with a more sufficient amount of wealth.
The Donner Party - Hoping to Survive
The Donner Party was a group of individuals who wanted to move to California, so they started their journey from Springfield, Illinois to California in 1846. They all had good plans and hoped that everyone would arrive in California safely. Some of the travelers were already considered wealthy before they moved, but they still had good reasons for traveling anyway and hoped for even more in California, where they believed that they could live even better lives. For instance, once they reached California, they would be able to obtain free land in order to save more money to use on other necessities. Since there were no automobiles in 1846, the members of the Donner Party stored their belongings in covered wagons. A covered wagon looks like a normal wagon, but much bigger, covered on the top and sides, and pulled by oxen instead of manual intervention by a human. The members of the Donner Party had to persevere through many adversities on their way to California. One hardship, in particular, led to the demise of many. Those deaths were caused by snowfall in the Sierra Nevada. When the Donner Party reached the Sierra Nevada, a huge snowstorm came over the area. As a result of the snow, the Donner Party was trapped on the side of the Sierra Nevada opposite to California the whole winter because of the risk of people getting hurt traveling. The snow impacted the whole journey because the Donner Party then had to wait until spring, so they would be able to pass through without a problem. Effects of having to wait by the Sierra Nevada included the deaths of many, lack of food, having to live in cold weather, having to live in homes that were inefficient for living, and being left with cannibalizing their dead acquaintances as the last chance of survival. Even with so many horrible things happening around them, most of the trapped survivors still had hope that they would all be able to one day reach California, the conditions they had to live with were very harsh. For example, the snow piled up to twenty feet high. With the snow piled up so high, it was not easy to leave their homes and try to hunt, so everyone could be well fed. From the start of the perilous journey, nobody expected too many dreadful incidents to occur, but throughout the dangerous expedition, many things did not go at all like as planned. Overall, the members of the Donner Party who survived until reaching the Sierra Nevada were under terrible circumstances caused by severe weather, but they all had hope in each other and themselves that they could make it to their destination together in good health.
The Donner Party - Hoping for Themselves
The Donner Party was a group of people who attempted to travel from Springfield, Illinois to California where they hoped that they could obtain free land. After traveling for a very long time, the surviving members of the Donner Party reached the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Once they reached the Sierra Nevada, a big snowstorm came over the area. The Donner Party was trapped behind the Sierra Nevada, and had to stay there and wait until the snow melted in spring. They all had to stay for quite a while, so food became scarce. People started to die because they could not survive through the harsh conditions. The Donner Party was already having a hard time finding food, so they had only one choice left; eating their own dead companions. At this point in time, the hopes of the members of the Donner Party started to differ from one another. First of all, both the Reed family and the Breen family claimed that they did not cannibalize throughout the whole journey because they realized that it was wrong. In contrast, it is recorded that most of the other surviving adventurers cannibalized to try to keep themselves alive. Also, on the way to California, the members of the Donner Party were kind and generous to each other because they hoped that everyone would safely make it to California. However, when they were living under terrible circumstances, some people no longer hoped for anything for their companions and started to become selfish, so they demanded for anything they previously, generously gave away to be given back. Not only did some members of the Donner Party differ from one another, but they were also similar to each other. For example, they all had plans that were somewhat alike for once they made it to California as well as hopes to become even more wealthy, educated, and successful than ever before. Overall, all of the members of the Donner Party hoped for things that were similar to each other, however, as their journey carried on, their thinking started to differ from one another.