But we’re not blue. Far from it. We’re about as optimistic as they come.
It dawns on us, though, that “optimistic” and “optometry” must not have the same Latin root, for the clear vision belongs to the pessimists, instead: anywhere you look in the world, it seems there’s trouble. Some of it huge, whether natural disasters or those of fully human cause. And the trends don’t look good either, as we read about unemployment (up), home values (down), prices (up), and municipal budgets (down).
Some of it just seems huge, as friends struggle with isolation and depression. How sad when the options seem so limited that escape appears the most attractive alternative. No, the optimistic view can’t claim to be clear, but it’s the best choice for living. And it’s indeed a choice.
We enjoyed watching the school board meeting on SunTV this past Tuesday evening. There wasn’t a lot of substantive discussion among the trustees, but gosh, are they optimistic. Celebrating staff members for years of service. Honoring two students from Dunbar. Listening to the high school Student Voice talk about the new “Mr. Dragon Beauty Pageant” fundraiser (congratulations, David DeSmet). Positive, bright and happy, as our schools should be.
The pessimist might see all this as just so much fluff. School board president Helen Marsh cautioned the audience that the desired progress in student achievement “may be elusive,” because of what she called “an almost fatal combination of state regulation and inadequate funding.” We’ve long argued that the poor student achievement isn’t about state rules or lack of money. It’s about a clear focus on high expectations and the commitment for all students to meet them. Such a commitment would be the essence of optimism.
And isn’t life itself optimistic? Certainly, the fruit trees in our neighborhoods are. They’ve been budding for a week or two now, enjoying all the rain and optimistic in their faith that winter is over. The grape vines are staring to grow again, too, optimistic that long warm days will come in due course.
This is a period of growth, too, for the high school seniors. Spring semester, senior year – now there’s a happy time. Many students already know where they’re headed next year, and many others are eagerly waiting the admit/reject notices just three weeks from now. Those students will be making decisions with optimism for their future, and a well-justified optimism, at that.
We watched our city council on SunTV, too, making an optimistic decision last week about the future. Was the waiver of fees for the Jazz + event a good decision? Maybe not, according to some 63 percent of the respondents to our poll, and that’s why the council members have to stand for re-election every four years. But what we appreciated was the explicit consideration that the event will continue to be a benefit to our community.
Every cloud, the expression goes, has a silver lining. We strive always to be optimistic. Why even this weekend, it’ll get light an hour earlier.
For our view, we choose rosy.
