Optimism

Optimism               

By John W. Vander Velden

Optimism leads us toward places we have never been.  It is like a walk on a mountain path.  We do not know what lies before us as we trudge onward toward higher ground.  Yet we go on with hope…the hope of a view that was worth the effort.  When at last we reach the trail’s end, we might be disappointed that trees and rocks prevent the anticipated vista, or we might be awestruck by the grandeur that lies before us.  It is that hope…that optimism…that drove us to walk for miles.  We do not allow the possibility of disappointment to quell our quest. 

Sometimes we have been beaten down again and again.  We feel that life’s climb brings only the strain of forward attempts.  Difficulties surround and hope is hard to maintain.  Those days when optimism seems folly, we should take a breath and remind ourselves the best yet lies before us.  That the path that leads may not at times be easy but is not insurmountable.  Looking forward, head high, striving to do the best we can to reach higher ground.

Optimism, though we might at times fail, is not a waste.  It leads us on and brightens our journey.  For often we reach what we expect.  To those that anticipate failure…failure will surely come.  But those that reach toward lofty desires, will at last find themselves at a place far higher.  Driven by optimism, though they, as everyone, face disappointments, will step by step move up the path toward the peak….

You see the optimist is not foolish enough to believe that troubles or heartaches are avoidable, but knows that in the end when the tally, of good and ill, is completed the sum will fall in their favor.  They see the sun even while it hides behind storm clouds.  They understand you see the rainbow best while getting wet.  They know that any good thing requires hard work.  They prefer to hope for the best rather than anticipate the worse. 

So it comes to each of us and we must choose…are you an optimist? 

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