Try Optimism

For more than two years now our nation has been struggling with a persistent and deepening recession. The pain it has caused seems incalculable. Retirement savings have been decimated or completely wiped out, unemployment remains in double digits, homes have been lost to foreclosure, access to credit has been difficult, and Washington politicians continue to pursue unpopular legislation and drive the country deeper into debt. It’s hard not to be pessimistic about what lies ahead…we are a nation and a people in trouble.

Leaders of every stripe have been struggling to find answers to the relentless problems we are facing. Partisanship seems to govern the decision-making at a political level…federal, state, and local. Business leaders have resorted to cost-cutting in their response to the crisis. Those with the power and position to guide our country through these troubled times have mostly served up gloom and doom predictions, labeled every situation as a crisis, and spent money we don’t have to fix the problems. Even I have succumbed at times to making excuses and feeling overwhelmed by it all.

On Christmas Day 1776 General George Washington must have felt like his situation was nearing hopelessness. His army had collapsed from 30,000 soldiers just a few months earlier to less than 2,500. One third of his army did not have boots and the winter weather was cold and snowy. Somehow Washington saw optimism in his situation. He rallied his troops to cross the icy Delaware River at night, march the nine miles to Trenton, and defeat 800 professional German soldiers stationed there. The decision became a turning point in the Revolutionary War and eventually our young nation won its freedom.

Optimism is defined as a conclusion reached through a deliberate thought pattern that leads to a positive attitude. It differs from hope because it relies less on emotion and more on putting actions and events in a favorable light anticipating a constructive outcome. Had Washington and his soldiers sat around the campfire lamenting their terrible situation or offering doomsday scenarios it is unlikely they would have acted with purpose to change their situation. If the bootless volunteers in this rag tag army had refused to wrap burlap around their frostbitten feet and march those final bloody miles there would have been no victory. Optimism invites us to solve life’s toughest problems by viewing obstacles as opportunities and working to create a new future.

Today’s leaders, at every level in our society, should take a lesson from Washington’s optimistic and opportunistic approach. Let’s embrace the challenges we face and imagine new approaches. Let’s commit to making sacrifices (whatever going bootless means to you) and go boldly across whatever icy river (defined as your problem) stands in your way. Let’s never forget that the issues we call grave or foreboding, pale in comparison to the obstacles that threatened our nation’s fight for freedom. Let’s be grateful that lessons like these can still teach us as we enter a new decade.

Here’s wishing all my readers (and leaders everywhere) an optimistic and prosperous New Year!