Select Entry- Dawn Lisell, Age 43

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.

Do human beings ever realize life while they live it, every, every day?" Emily Webb anguishes in the final act of Thornton Wilder's play, Our Town. Uttered from the afterlife, Emily's question resounds as a universal cry to live in the now. To realize life is to understand it, to become aware, and to accept it, as we live it. For, if we choose to realize our future with optimism, which most assuredly we do, today becomes the locus and the zenith of tomorrow. How we lead life today, every thought and gesture, every intention, comment or action sets in motion what we will experience tomorrow. Just as the sun breaks open the ripe yolk of a new morning, yesterday's tomorrow becomes today. Now, this very moment, we are creating the future while we live it, every, every day.

What kind of future am I creating in the life I live today? It is so easy, yes, comfortable even, to allow ourselves to be swept into the spiral of paralytic pessimism. The mammoth tides of violence, suffering, cruelty, intolerance, and destruction wracking the earth seem beyond our purview and control, yet we feel it within us, a sickening pulse threatening to steal our own. What choice remains but to belly up to the doom? To hold optimism for the future, for our collected tomorrows, a worldview will not serve as the locus of evaluation. A personal view is our starting place. It begins with me. It begins with you. Tomorrow starts here. Our future commences now with an honest, responsible reflection on how we are living our individual lives, moment by moment, thought by deed, today.

What fills my thoughts throughout the day? If I take a moment to truly listen to the chatter in my head, to become aware, to realize, what do I hear? Judgments? Criticism? Guilt? Condemnation? Self-righteousness? Pity? Blame? What if I could change the channel from chatter to appreciation? What if I could pretend that every person I encounter is my son or my daughter, my mother or my father, my brother or my sister? What if I could afford myself the same care I'd willingly give to my dearest friend? How might my thoughts be different? How might the quality of my today improve?

How will my actions today make a difference in the life of at least one other person? What are the littlest things I can do in my day to better someone else's experience? How can I give instead of hold? What if I could pretend that every encounter with another human being is the last. I pay for my groceries and boof—the checkout gal's gone. The driver on my left madly honks as he overtakes me. Boof--he's gone. I lead a business meeting because the numbers are under and boof—everyone's gone. I see my disorganized children or grumpy partner off in the morning and before I realize, boof—all gone. How might I act differently? With compassion? Care? Understanding? Gratitude? Honesty? Acknowledgment? I'm not speaking of random acts of kindness, nor of niceties or politeness. If this moment was indeed the last, how might I make a difference with an intentional and deliberate act of appreciation?

Wilder's Stage Manager proposes that the only human beings capable of realizing life while they live it are, "Saints and poets, they do some." If this is true, there exists within each of us a saint and a poet. The Encarta World Dictionary describes a saint as one who is kind and patient in dealing with difficult people or situations. How many saints do you encounter every day? A poet is somebody who is imaginative and creative, who possesses great skill and artistry and is able to produce beautiful things, or one who possesses unusual sensitivity or insight. Count the poets in your daily life. Let us cultivate the patience and kindness of the saint within us. Let us discover the creativity and insight of our inner poet. May we create a tomorrow of optimism by realizing life as we live it, moment by moment, thought by deed, today.