For weeks the word in Huntington was "hope." It showed up on homemade signs, in comments for the media and in the eyes of an entire community.
For many of us, of course, hearing the word "hope" will always call to mind those other two words in the trinity of virtues: faith and charity.
Those two things have also been in the hearts and heads of Huntington.
Everyone has their own personal take on Christian virtues. And I've always sliced "hope" and "faith" this way.
"Faith" means trusting in someone greater than yourself to make things right.
"Hope" means a refusal to give into fear, despair, gloom and all those other "dark angels" that hover around inside of us when we feel vulnerable.
When faith is broken, it is often difficult to repair. But hope — like those trick birthday candles — has a way of flickering quickly back to life.
Blow out the flame of hope and people are left in the dark, where dark fears and fantasies lurk. Feeling hopeless means feeling lost and desperate.
In that sense, the old western films had it right. They called such lost and lonely men "desperados," a version of a Spanish word that means, literally, "one who has had hope taken from him." Such men wandered and made mischief without any direction or sense of purpose, like souls with no guiding light. When we hear of "desperate" criminals doing "desperate" deeds, we assume it has to do with "panic" and "lack of control." It's really about hopelessness.
Desperate souls flail about in the darkness and confusion because the flame of hope has been quenched in their lives.
And that leads us back to Huntington.
Indeed, the whole community there feels rather "desperate" at the moment, a bit swallowed by the darkness. But, as I said, the flame of hope can pop back to life in an instant. All it needs are the things that real flames need to reignite: fuel, oxygen and heat.
For the flame of hope, the fuel comes from the love and compassion of family, friends and even strangers.
The heat of hope is kindled by a spark of inner resolve.
And the oxygen, like breath itself, is the fresh air of spirituality.
We've all seen those three things in abundance in Huntington in the past days. And though the way seems dim and unlit at the moment, those things will eventually pop that flame of hope back alive in the lives of those who live there.
Just like those birthday candles miraculously spring to life, hope in the lives of the good souls of Huntington will one day burst back into flame.
And it will burst to life for the same reason those candles come alive. Because the flame in those Huntington hearts has never really gone out. It only seems be extinguished.
It's there, waiting to ignite again. And there's enough heat, fuel and air in Huntington to eventually keep it burning on and on like the Olympic flame.
And, on my part, that's more than mere hope talking.
I go all the way to faith for that one.
E-mail: jerjohn@desnews.com