Learning to Trust

 Warning: Spoiler Alert!

Have you ever felt the need to confide in someone, but deep down you knew there was no one you could ever trust enough to hold your secret? Perhaps you lost the ability to trust and rely on someone after an incident that shattered that trust; or you just moved and you know no one in this strange school at all? Or maybe you feel that no one would understand you anyways because no one could have EVER gone through what you did? Well, Hope Was Here, by Joan Bauer, is about a young waitress named Hope. She moves to a new home in Wisconsin with her aunt, trying to find where she belonged in the world when her mother gave her away to her aunt and with the fact that the places where Hope's aunt worked eventually closed down, forcing them to move. Throughout Hope Was Here, the reader finds that change, support, and love don't always come from the ones birthed you, or the ones you've known for a long time, but sometimes from the ones you across later, and the ones who briefly touched on your life.

Today, school life has been shown to be divided into several groups, mainly by popularity. The most "popular" kids tend to stick together; even though they will occasionally pick on the outsiders in their class, other students admire them and want to be like them. However, the "loners" and "misfits" are always looked down upon, ignored, and laughed at. It's hard to trust and find support when you are always falling. The same thing can happen through deception. Hope states that "You [Gleason] took my trust and I believed you were my friends, but I will never be dumb enough to do that again."[p. 179] It became hard for her to find support after a man by the name of Gleason stole money from her and her aunt, Addie, and ran away with someone else's fiance, because the incident shattered her trust, as well as Addie's. However, it is important for teens to know that there is always going to be someone you can trust and rely on with your heart; even if it may take years to fond that person, they can support you and help you learn to believe in others once more.

Most kids will dread the day their parents might say, "Honey, we're moving." For many of us, this is one of the worst parental phrases to ever be uttered. It's hard to let go of a life you are used to, a life that you have forged with friends and family. Hope states early in the book that :by the time [she] was fourteen [she'd] been to six different schools and lived in five states..."[p. 2] It was especially hard for her to leave her two best friends in New York, but she ended up finding a very engaging and happy life in Wisconsin, and she and her aunt flourished despite the hardships of beginning over again. This goes to show that, even though it is hard to let go, friends can be found around every corner, even if it means starting anew.

Finally, you may find that moving to a new place was a good thing; at school, there may be more people with the same hobbies, like and dislikes, and personalities. For example, Hope found her place in her high school through the intense mayoral campaign. I can easily relate to this; in elementary school, I was one of the more isolated students. The friends I had weren't very close to me, and I only knew of one other person I could trust with my soul. Then, moving to M.S.51, everything changed. I was separated from her since she went to a different school. I drifted from group to group until I found a reliable and loyal network of friends; fellow classmates that I got along with like clockwork. My closest friends at school came into my life entirely through a coincidence, and now I can't think of how I went by my day without having them to laugh with, joke with, or just be with everyday. Most of my friends are very close to me in the sense that we have similar personalities, ideal, and interests. This goes to show that you don't always need to know someone the longest to be close to them; all you need are a genuine heart and mutual passion for a topic.