Honorable Mention - Amanda N. Snyder, Age 24

Welcome to our Optimistic Essay category. Here you will find the $1,000 winning contest essay, 5 finalist essays and 15 honorable mention essays and a growing list of hand-picked select essays that readers submitted during our "Why Are You Optimistic About the Future?" contest. This is a special category dedicated to those who took the time to share their touching stories and bright perspectives with HappyNews.com.

Violence, natural disasters, and odious human actions have each played their part in shaping societies since humans first began documenting history, thousands of years ago. There are certain realities in life that we encounter and learn to cope with on a daily basis. There are absolutes that come with living, and how we handle them effectively dictates who we become. Our society, on both national and international scales, is evolving rapidly. Everything we think and everything we do, all the way down to our personal opinions about life and the world around us, is completely tied to our perception. Our perception is constantly affected by our environment. Sound bytes, video clips, newsreels and advertisements are fed to us in large quantities via the television, the internet and newspapers. As we subconsciously acknowledge all of these messages our perception of the world is tarnished by frighteningly pessimistic facts and figures. Scandal sells, and the more we buy into it, the more they sell it to us. This violent cycle will never end until, we, the citizens of the world, realize that there are at least two sides to every news story. We need to consider the opportunities that would open up to us if we consciously thought about the media's role in our daily lives. When all the facts are compiled and compared, the truth is often rarely as bad as the newsmakers often make it out to be. How can we expect to obtain comprehensive news on any topic in five minutes or less? The good news can often be found just beyond that initial five minutes of tragedy. Finding the silver lining takes media literacy and active participation from all of us. As we begin to see the possibilities that are found therein, a whole new world will be open to us one news segment at a time.

During the summer I saw students spending their vacation time building houses for people who would not be fortunate enough to call themselves students. Last week I saw a man filling a donation bin with brand new toys. Today I saw the dog brigade heading into the hospital to visit sick children, and perhaps tomorrow I will see more happy little snippets of our daily reality. Goodness is all around us, we simply must look past all of the clutter.

We will never forget the recent hurricane that devastated the city of New Orleans. I will always mourn the loss of a city that was so alive with unique culture and energy. Despite the accounts of catastrophe and mayhem that we saw repeated for weeks in the news, extraordinary stories of goodwill and remarkable humanitarian efforts were brought fourth as well. Humanitarian aid is a mounting endeavor all around the globe. When I hear stories of people putting their lives on hold to fly hundreds of miles from their homes to help people that they have never met, that is when I know we are headed in the right direction. With little or nothing to gain, thousands of people stood in the gap and did there part to help fellow Americans who were in need. I see this and I say this is what we will see when we look past the daily grind, everyday heroes making our world better one day at a time.

When I think about the world now, versus 100 years ago, I see that freedom, tolerance and good will are flourishing in this modern era. As a woman I see possibilities opening for me that women in the 18 th century would not have dared to dream of. Even within the past 30 years pathways have been opening for people like never before. Recently, I read a fantastic article about the role minority women are playing world of scientific research. I also saw a slide show demonstrating how virtual reality technology is improving the lives of people with various disabilities. With all the talk of how technology is infringing upon our culture it is easy to forget all the positive and enriching new worlds the internet is creating for us. For example, consider the chat rooms for people with similar issues that need a likeminded person to talk to, or even the accessibility to poetry and art that it provides for the whole world to see. Expressing ourselves freely, in any way that we choose, is a relatively new concept that is paving the way for so much more tolerance that is coming to us in the very near future. As we open our minds to freedom fewer chains can bind us as they have in the past.

Religious tolerance and personal freedoms have come a long way in a relatively short amount of time as well. We are changing the way history has taught us to look at others, and in turn, others are becoming more tolerant in the ways that they view us. I see that happening more everyday. Years ago, my hometown was a strictly white neighborhood. The demographics in that area have broadened substantially since I was a child. As of last year my parents have a Saudi Arabian family next door, and my mother has been teaching them English on the weekends. I see that people are ready and willing to put themselves in the other person's shoes. My mother likes to think that someone might have helped her grandmother integrate into American society when she came here in 1922.

The world is becoming more diversified as the economy goes global, and I believe that our modes of thinking are following suit. These are just of few of the many positive trends that are developing in our nation and in our world. As the world becomes more educated we will find more and more acceptance between opposing parties. I want to encourage my fellow citizens to put fourth the effort to make someone in the world just a little bit happier every day. We can always start with ourselves. The big picture comprises of all the happy little pieces.