Being a religious person, that's first place my mind goes to when I hear the word "hope". Faith and hope share an incredibly strong bond, because among other things, having a strong Faith means having an unlimited source of hope. Well this goes for me, at least. Often times I have wondered how and where areligious (or religious but non practicing) people can find the hope and energy necessary to push ahead with life. Personally, I think I would have a hard time doing that if I found myself in such a situation.
I also don't necessarily believe that
people seem to have started reducing [hope] down to a transactional thing
I think there's plenty natural sources of hope still to be found in the world (aside from religion). The "hope for sale" model only makes it easier to reach the end goal, which is why it has always enjoyed success throughout history. Because yes, I also don't believe this is a recent phenomenon, I think it has existed for most of our history, possibly as long as market economies have. I don't believe it's a bad thing either, if it achieves its purpose and does give the "buyer" hope, then the seller might actually have done some good. The buyer will feel better thanks to that transaction, compared to how they would have felt had it not happened.
Lastly, something this post made me reflect upon, is how amazing it is that a person can be the role model you spoke of without being necessarily aware of it. Just like one can find themselves inspired by someone else's actions, they might very well be that same inspirational figure to a third person.
