Select Entry- Jan Bitzberger, Age 34

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.

My optimism is found in the comfort of realizing that the human race has not only survived over a great amount of time, but clearly progressed since its simple beginnings. It starts with the evolution of technology, and its impacts on the civilization of our species really. The knowledge that in the beginning it was a simple, cave dwelling existence kept alive by a small fire that emerged into a nuclear engineer discovering an alternative heating source that could heat an entire city. That leaps and bounds can be made, and that the population could thrive so well, it's multiplied into the billions. The overall trend for Man in his environment is that technology has constantly and consistently evolved to improve the survival and successful propagation of humans. Society has evolved, and is actually still evolving in front of our eyes. Laws are changing every day. Electronics are advancing every day. People are learning something new every day.

There's a child-like excitement inside me that what we saw in the movies in the 1980's is actually a reality in the 2000's. Cellular phones. Wireless communications. Robotics. It's here. It makes what we saw in Star Trek and Star Wars a possibility now, because if someone could imagine it, then it's only a matter of time before someone can build it. Man could go further than just this planet. He could expand into a galaxy-like existence. We're only at the very beginning, but how exciting is it that there could be a middle, and possible an end? That it could happen. That I may even live to see the next step of progress.

Critics of technology, and today's society are abundant though. Complaints say that Man, as a society is regressing as crime increases, and natural resources are being consumed at dangerously high rates that will leave no environment for the children to inherit. Though these are clearly challenges, history has shown us that Man has overcome great problems such as these. Man survived an environment almost completely constructed of ice and freezing temperatures. Tidal waves ravaged coastline settlements, but yet Man resettled. Hurricanes swept over communities, but Man still stayed, and rebuilt. Our own technology was even used against us, and yet, Man, and society has still survived it all. Has learned lessons from these tragedies, and has tried to make improvements to mitigate the risk such disasters could have on us in the future. We've created better storm warning systems, and evacuation procedures, and better security for our ever-growing technology. Bad things have happened, but we've survived it all, and continue to populate the earth. Man continues to reproduce and expand, despite adversity, war, differences in opinion, and natural disasters. And with that survival trend ever-so-clear, how can there not be confidence and optimism for the future?

Man has overcome incredible challenges even in the last fifty years alone. Space travel is now possible. Before, it was unthinkable; then we got to the moon. Now we're sending ships to investigate other planets beyond the moon. We even have the ability to see other solar systems in space, other than our own. The evolution of technology is allowing alternate energy sources, and understands there are things that can be done today to save the planet tomorrow. Yet, considering Man's track record for overcoming natural disaster, should the planet Earth go into crisis, what's to say we won't overcome that obstacle anyway, just like we've overcome others in the past? As technology grows, fossil fuels may become obsolete. Or even more exciting, perhaps Man moves off Earth, and resides in space. Or even resides on another planet. It's the possibility of such things, and the fact that history shows incredible progress, that lets the optimism grow, and even feed.

And what of society itself? Even beyond just mere survival and continuance? What about the evolution of society? Though sometimes appearing to struggle, it forges ahead regardless. Less than a hundred years ago, women couldn't even vote. That changed with time, and persistence. And even if equal pay for equal work still struggles in today's society, it's on the right track. It's making progress, slowly, but surely. In the next generation of children, it may disappear altogether. The problems of today don't have to be the problems of tomorrow. The evolution of society as a whole could be different fifty years from now, just as today is completely different from the 1950's. Back then, women had few options other than the Home Maker profession. Back then, it was an expectation in society. Today it's a choice for women.

Problems in society evolve with time, just as society itself evolves. The eternal optimist realizes this, and does not dwell on the problems themselves; rather they realize it needs to be addressed, and can be altered for the future. In truth, it's the optimists that seemingly get things done, by having hope for a better future, and working towards improving it as best they can. The inventors who give us new technology, and new ways to make our lives easier didn't do that by being pessimistic about the days to come. It was their Hope, and their vision for something better that spawned their creations. The inventors of the World Wide Web are a great example. This is a technology that has allowed people and businesses to operate globally, not just locally. Those that oppose such impersonal communication and business say it's removing the old business ways of face-to-face interaction, and isolating ourselves from each other. Taking the optimistic view, I don't see that. I see more communication occurring between people, and businesses expanding, and the opportunity for growth both economically and educationally. Could this have an impact on society, and the way we interact with each other? Absolutely, but it doesn't have to be construed as negative. Perhaps communication becomes more clear, and more timely, removing confrontation and anxiousness out of a particular transaction. Perhaps it teaches us to deal with each other in a simpler way, without all the emotional reactions entering into it. Perhaps it allows for more civil, comfortable communication all the way around. That isn't a negative. It would be a step forward in progress if civility increased, and altercations decreased.

So the bottom line in all of this is that optimism is alive and thriving, despite the various social, medical, and environmental challenges posed to Mankind at the moment. We've survived war, and will survive it again. Even the movies show us that it's possible that a few people do survive a nuclear war, or a disaster of monumental proportions. Of course, the screenwriters had to be optimists to give us such hope, but they too must believe that Man will always find a way. Life will always find a way. Anything is possible. I wholeheartedly believe that. If we, as a species could go from the simple skill of creating fire all the way to creating a nuclear reaction at will, then what's to stop us from something greater? Those scientists in the early days doubted such a reaction could happen. Today, it's a standard practice, and used in our nation's security. Today, scientists doubt cold fusion, and time travel. I just wonder when the day will come, when they too will stand in awe of what they never thought possible. And just where will medicine be in another ten years? How many diseases will be cured? How many years can the human life be extended? It's all fascinating, exciting stuff. I can't wait to see what happens next. Although I do remind myself that a watched pot never boils, and that trying to measure progress by agonizing over the daily state of things will only lead to frustration. You have to look ahead in time, and ask, what the decade might bring. What's the outlook for the nest five years. What will be improved, or fixed, or even obsolete. It's the interest in Man, and what he can do, and how he can improve overall that really makes it all worthwhile. It's a constant education of what's possible, and the thirst for knowledge never seems to dry up.