Select Entry- Eddie D Chacon, Age 35

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.

After growing out of my childhood life and into my mature age of thirty-five with a family of three. I have heard from my elders say that in their times of growing up life was more peaceful, things were different. The generation before them said the exact same thing. So what is to be said of our time in the twenty first century?

What do we have to look forward to in our time? We see more war, more hunger, and more confusion in religion. We find a cure for one illness and encounter hundreds more, others cannot be cure and medicine merely prolongs our life for a few years, and that's only if you have the proper wealth or health benefits that will allow that. So why do I want to feel, or be optimistic about the future? I have decided to be optimistic about the future today, because today I have decided not to let anyone take control of my thoughts. Today I have determined to be a better person to my neighbors, my family, and my enemy. I will pray and share my positive beliefs with everyone. Beginning to understand peace of mind starts with adapting to my surroundings and making the best of what I have. I have learned to identify my distress and realize that I was worried about tomorrow, I was worried about someone else, and I was worried about yesterday when in fact I was so busy thinking about yesterday and tomorrow that today slipped by me. When I learned to accomplish my deeds for today and understand to live my life for today, my days became less complicated and my optimisms for tomorrow became more real. You see, for I first had to change the way I looked at things, in order for the things that I look at to change. The optimistic sense of my future is what I make of it. I have determined that I will be a part of a positive energy for others and myself and this is why I am optimistic about the future.