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On April 3, 1968, standing before a crowded church, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. painted his vision for justice. 鈥�,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land.鈥�

Twenty-two hours later, he was assassinated.

King鈥檚 prophetic words express the virtue of hope amid hardship. He was not optimistic that he would reach the 鈥淧romised Land,鈥� yet he was hopeful about the ultimate goal.

In conversation, 鈥渉ope鈥� and 鈥渙ptimism鈥� can often be used as synonyms. But there鈥檚 an important gap between them, as psychology research suggests.

One of the most common tools to  asks people how much they agree with statements such as, 鈥淚n uncertain times, I usually expect the best.鈥� Those who strongly agree are regarded as highly optimistic.

But optimism can rely on a sense of luck over action. Self-help books on optimism are lined with hacks鈥攍ike imagining your greatest possible self or focusing on the best-case scenario.

 studies how people perceive hope and justice. Long-term hope is not about looking on the bright side. It is a mindset that helps people endure challenges, tackle them head-on and keep their eyes on the goal鈥攁 virtue that Dr. King and other community leaders exemplify.

We, Not Me

Hope is often  as having strong will to succeed and plans to reach a goal.

Hope is stronger than optimism   and people鈥檚 ability to . Plenty of scientific evidence suggests that hope  and boosts their .

But branding hope as a self-improvement tool cheapens this long-established virtue. Hope has benefits . Thus, many psychologists are expanding the  beyond personal success. My research team defines this 鈥溾�� as striving toward a purposeful vision of the common good鈥攁 hope often shaped by hardship and strengthened through relationships.

Many leaders, including Dr. King, have channeled that lesson to inspire change. Centuries of spiritual and philosophical work describe hope  that, like love, is a decision, not a feeling.

The Myth of Time

Dr. King wasn鈥檛 known for looking on the bright side or expecting the best from others. He faced repeated waves of criticism, and, at the time of his death,  of him than of the .

In 鈥�,鈥� Dr. King lamented the optimism of moderate white Americans who said they supported his goals but took little action. There is a 鈥渟trangely irrational notion that there is something in the very flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淎ctually, time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively.鈥�

He chastised society for believing that improvement would simply happen on its own. When he said, 鈥淭he arc of the moral universe is long, ,鈥� he was not describing its natural trajectory, but what people have the power to change. You cannot expect greener pastures if they are not tended today.

Dr. King was not alone in leveraging virtuous hope for justice. Brazilian educator Paulo Freire described hope as an 鈥溾�� that promotes action. Nelson Mandela, who spent 27 years in prison, called hope a 鈥�.鈥�

Forged in Adversity

What makes hope a virtue is not its ability to promote happiness and success, but its commitment to a greater good beyond the self.

I study virtuous hope in a South African Zulu community, where there are few reasons for optimism. South Africa has . , and  is low. This is the part of the country where , with the percentage  in some communities.

We studied , based on their reputation and community suggestions. These individuals demonstrated an unwavering focus on striving for a better future, often unglued from expectations of personal success.

One local farmer nominated by his community struggled to buy seeds for his crops but still helped others apply for grants to buy them. Even when his own future was uncertain, he was not hoarding. He described his hope as a commitment to help others. His hope is not a positive expectation but a moral commitment.

Our interviewees did not describe hardship as a suppressor of hope but as its context to grow.

One unemployed young woman said she had applied for jobs for four years and would continue, though she was not na茂ve about the tough future. She said applying for jobs and reading to her child were her acts of hope. Her hope didn鈥檛 expect a quick improvement, yet it warded off paralysis.

Many of our interviewees anchored their hope in their Christian faith, as did Dr. King. Dr. King  St. Paul, one of the first Christian writers, , 鈥淪uffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope. Now this hope does not disappoint us.鈥�

Hope, in other words, plays the long game: enduring suffering with integrity. Like Dr. King鈥檚, it manifests in hardship and is refined in adversity. Hope enables communities to march for  even while tasting the danger of dictatorship, apartheid or oligarchy.

Hope knows it may take another generation to reach the Promised Land, but it acts today to  toward justice.

This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read .

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Kendra Thomas is an associate professor of psychology at Hope College and a mother of two. She researches character development among parents of young children (in a Zulu South African community) and in elementary schools (in Brazilian public education). Her work explores youth鈥檚 perceptions of justice and how people can develop hope in complex circumstances.

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