Select Entry- Alexandra Martin, Age 18

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.

Apparently, the world as everyone knows it is crumbling before our very eyes. No one knows it, except for, of course, those working for our enlightening local and national news stations. It seems so frightening that all a long, people have been living amongst mad cows and west Nile mosquitoes. Disheartening, though, to watch as the feeble, innocent and naive give into these treacherous threats of "death" and spend wasted hours waiting for a UPS package laced with anthrax to be placed upon their door step. "Sign here for your package, sir." No thank you.

I would accept the package, infected or not. You can't just throw away perfectly good things because their was a feature on Dateline entitled "New findings suggest cardboard boxes may be linked to lung cancer." Why spend you life cowering in the corner like a frantic puppy, making puddles on the floor. All you're doing staining the hardwood. The future is inevitable. Some things are out of our hands. I remember that some things are not.

I hold in my hands a key to my own fate. Regardless of what the terror threat level is (cream, beige, tan), I can still achieve my goals. I go to bed knowing the world will live on, the Iraqi infiltration will end some day, and pray that no more gang leaders will ever face the death penalty in this country again. None of the media's scare tactics will ever stand in my way.

I am going to college. I am going to law school. I hope to start a family. "But wait," one might ask. "What if Dateline is right?" It never crossed my mind. My biggest worries are to stop making as many 411 or information calls (those jerks are charging $1.75 now) and arriving at to my house by 1:00 a.m. on the weekends.

Last semester, I made straight A's. I am optimistic that, this semester, I will continue the pattern. I was accepted to the University of Kentucky and now I am optimistic that college will prove to be a life changing experience . I look forward to moving out of my parents house and making my own, grown-up decisions. I am sitting on the edge of my chair, waiting for my best friend to get her acceptance letter (roommates, for sure) .

I have a family that cares about me: my mother, my father, my brother, my grandmother, my boyfriend, and, of course, my dogs. I can spend the rest of my life happy, knowing that they are behind me no matter what I do (yes, the dogs, too). I will always have an open door to come home to. There will always be someone that will do my laundry and follow me around with a vacuum cleaner, if I really wanted them to.

I am working towards my ultimate independence. I want to make a fantastic living. I want to buy my parents the beach house they deserve. I want to have 2 children, a big mansion and a loving husband. The excitement of these dreams gravitates me towards my future, and I forget about biological warfare.

Life is better when you are focused and goal oriented. I have something to strive for, and am left with no time for meaningless bothers. Eventually gas will cost one dollar again, homosexuals will be merry and you will be watching me on C-SPAN or C-SPAN 2 going "Man, she was right." You'll see.