Select Entry- Jennifer Zuniga, Age 25

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.

Although no one knows what the future will hold, we all have many worries and fears that leave us with an important decision we must make every day. We can allow the fears of the unknown to control our emotions and leave us feeling insecure and miserable, or we can choose to take a courageous step of faith and believe that we have the power to make a difference in this world! The attitude that we choose has a powerful ripple effect that has the potential to create or destroy the gift of Optimism.

I believe that what our society is facing today is a lack of visionaries. The population of dreamers is on the rise but it is an uphill climb for them as they try to scatter hope and inspiration to a world filled with sadness. Meanwhile, in the shadows, there are so many people that are desperate for encouragement and their dreams are hidden beneath their insecurities. Since they are constantly being bombarded with negativity, they truly cannot help themselves.

Inside of every one of us is a yearning for something more. When we find a person that is high-spirited and overflowing with optimism, it is like a beacon of light shining through the darkness. The influence that they have on our life leaves an unforgettable impression in our heart and we find ourselves wanting to be like them. I find it very disheartening that there are so few role models in this world today. Actors and actresses have become the examples that society and the media culture has set for all age groups. Self Gratifying and Better Life magazines encourage more and more discontentments in us of what we do not have rather than focusing on what we do have and the many blessings that surround us each and every day.

I am very happy to say that I have minimized the unhappy traditional news I intake every day, because I've realized that the most important decision we make every day is what we allow into our minds. A negative person does not become negative over night and it is not a curse since their birth. The daily choices we make are a result of our thoughts and the influence from our friends and other people we come into contact with every day. Our actions speak our heart and we will mirror only what we have accumulated in the core of our beings, as a result of our thought life.

More and more I am reaching out to grasp what has become rare in our society and yet in years past was an essential part of what held a community and our world together in unison. I believe that what is most needed is an epidemic of love that spreads from one life to another like wildfire! There is too much selfishness and laziness in our society. Technology is exciting to an extent but it has encouraged us to become too lax and to direct us away from the heart of the matter.

Whenever I have shown kind acts to our neighbor this past year I am amazed with the reaction I have received. I almost have to beg her to accept my plate of baked goodies because she feels I have gone too much out of my way. Kindness has become something rare and yet who doesn't appreciate being shown an act of love? Isn't that what everyone is searching for? True love, happiness and joy in this life? I find it ironic that so many people are searching for the very thing they are so often unwilling to give- the gift of their time. It is so easy to get caught up in our own lives and yet we expect others to cater to our needs so that we can live a smooth and trouble free life.

I believe that the main distraction to society and to the transforming of our world over years past has been the media. Media continues to shape our world and our hopes for the future. We are being brainwashed and retrained in our thinking and the problem is that the TV is never off long enough to even realize this gradual process that has taken place. The media has stuck their dirty foot in our mouths for too long and someone needs to pull it out! I encourage all of you to take a two week break and then dare to turn it back on again and you will be horrified at where our culture is at! Currently our generations are drifting and the worst part is there is little realization of the impact that the media is having on everyone! There is hardly any quality family time anymore and social visits have now become a movie fest where there is hardly any communication. Our relationships are suffering and yet where do we look when there is problems, to the media of course. Our children are looking to us to guide us and give them a hope and yet we are left with our own deep thoughts. Do we have a hope in this life, and if so, what is it?

What does the future hold for us? With the social unrest, the natural disasters, global warming, the negative biases in the news, dirty politics, the depletion of resources, widening rich-poor gap, biological warfare and many more challenges that continue to rise up and be brought to our attention, it is easy for a person to become depressed.

I am optimistic about the future regardless of what happens because I have found security and hope through my faith in God. I believe that nothing can or will happen on a wide scale of destruction without him allowing those evil attacks to filter through his greater plan. I believe there are certain universal and spiritual laws that cannot be changed and therefore there are consequences that we will face from the freedom of another person's actions. However, even through the worst experience, I believe that somehow God can change it into good if we trust him with all of our hearts and believe that he is still in control.

I am optimistic about the future because I can see a trend as a result from the numerous natural disasters we've experienced in this past year alone. There is becoming more of an awareness of the role of community that is needed to survive, recover and rebuild from these tragedies. Whenever we find ourselves in a bad situation that is when everyone pulls together and instinctively we feel a sense of community to helping one another.

This proves that there is hope for this world because inside of every one of us is a seed of love waiting to blossom. We all have the potential to sprout kindness and really make a difference in the life of one another. There are many optimistic people out there, it's just sad that they are not exposed to the traditional media except when their amazing story bubbles over and becomes so-called newsworthy enough. However, in times of crisis such as natural disasters it is common to see much media news of how everyone is helping each other.

I am optimistic about the future because as a dreamer with a vision, I enjoy networking with a lot with other writers, artists and musicians. From personal experience, I know that there is a lot of inspiration and passion brewing behind the scenes and I'm happy to be a part of it. Our society needs to be inspired to make changes, they need to see some new ideas and have better resources to give them back their focus and encourage them to dream big dreams. It is so refreshing to find a group of passionate dreamers that are making it happen through hard work, sacrifice and their strong foundation of faith to sustain them along the way. It is not easy to be different and set ourselves apart from the bad habits in our society, but we must keep our focus if we want to live a life of purpose.

I am optimistic about the future because I am not letting go of the treasures from the past.

The older that I am getting I am really appreciating my elders more and more. They are the best role models that we have left and they deserve our respect and our attention. They hold the secrets to the rich full life of community, optimism, sacrifice, and stories of the enjoyment of the little things in life. In the past, morals were generously respected by everyone and spirituality was essential to living a happy full life. Many people had a hope and with that they were able to encourage each other in their dreams and together they built strong communities with a focused vision.

Now, there has become such a war of rights, within the last decade especially. People are contradicting themselves more than they realize. There are so many people willing to throw away our morals that our entire culture has been founded on and yet they are the first to complain about the negativity, crime and social unrest in today's world. I'd like to ask them if they really think that is coincidental. There has become such an obsession over rights that we have lost our foundation in the process. We are suffering greatly as a society because of all the treasures we have lost along the way.

I enjoy watching movies that still uphold the morals and values from the past. There is so much we can learn from these characters and they are great reminders to us of those treasures that need to be rediscovered once again.

Our future is made up out of the individual choices we make every day. Every day we are faced with challenges and are influenced greatly from numerous sources. We need to surround ourselves with a strong positive group of friends to keep our motivation and inspiration alive. Most importantly we need to embrace the gift of optimism in our own life and realize that all it takes is one person to set a spark of hope and that one person could be you and I.