Honorable Mention - Mary Ellen Siegmund, Age 61

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.

In 1956 I was 12 years old watching the Evening News. "Fore" President Eisenhower teed off. As long as Ike was playing golf I knew everything was right with the world. Here I was in the Greatest Country in the World. We were the good guys. We had the best living standards of any country on earth. Dr Salk had discovered the polio vaccine. Now there was almost no disease, no World War. I was one of the first of the post war babies; the luckiest generation with the best future on earth.

But for some people in the United States the best of times was their worst of times. Segregation and even lynching was a big part of daily life in the South. In our small town in Wisconsin I had never heard about that. The problems of the world were not talked about. Most handicapped people lived in institutions with no hope of a normal life. Their problems were also hidden away.

Even my perfect little world had it's depressing times. My Father had died of a stroke at age 29. My Mother, a single working Mom before it was common or popular had discovered serious discrimination. She had been passed over for higher positions which were given to less qualified men with the statement. "We have to give this to him. He has a family to support". Her protest, "So have I" fell on deaf ears.

In 1962 I was off to college. Things would be different for me. I soon discovered that there were two areas where they would accept women. You could be a teacher or a nurse. Although companies were flocking to campus to recruit college graduates; they refused to even interview women. Then I found out that I had inherited my Father's hypertension. My blood pressure was constantly at stroke level. The doctors predicted I would not live to be thirty.

A brave doctor and some new wonder drugs came along just in time and my medical situation improved. At the same time the country erupted. Black Voters rights and the ERA were the talk of the day. People became concerned about the environment and we began to try to improve conditions. Eventually, the Disability Discrimination Act gave handicapped people access to more jobs. Through the years as people became aware of problems they worked to find solutions.

Today I am 61. Since I wasn't supposed to live to be 30, turning 60 was a big birthday for me. Now as I look toward 90 I am very optimistic. So many medical advances have made it possible for more people to live longer and have a better quality of life. Equal opportunity for woman, blacks and handicapped have given us a diverse group of people to help solve our current challenges. We have way too much negative news but as a result we are better aware of our problems. You cannot change bad situations if you are not aware that they exist. Now we have better informed people who can work to change our world.

My Grandfather felt he had lived at the most exciting time since the beginning of the world. He had lived as a child without electricity or plumbing. He remembered seeing his first car. He lived to see the first man walk on the moon. I feel the same way he did. First I am so fortunate to even be here. I look at the many challenges of the future with great optimism. I have seen the amazing progress of the last 50 years. We can say it has been AWESOME and know it is an appropriate use of the overworked word. We have been learning to work together. If we put our minds and hearts together just imagine what we can accomplish in the next 50 years. I look forward to 90 and beyond. It could really be the Best of Times.