When I was child visiting my grandparents house, I would often sit for hours on their porch listening to my grandfather’s stories. On one such occasion, my grandfather began talking about the time he had been drafted halfway through his sophomore year at Miami University to serve in the Korean War. He told me about the hardships of serving for two years when many of his friends back home continued their education or began their careers. Yet, then, he told me something that astonished me. He told me that getting drafted into the war had been the best thing that had ever happened to him because it forced him to be held back in college long enough to meet my grandma.
I’ve always admired my grandfather’s optimism and his ability to put such a positive spin on a difficult wartime experience. Yet, today, the optimism he exhibits so well is sorely lacking in our country.
In July of this year, according to a Gallup poll, 82 percent of Americans were dissatisfied with the way things were going in the United States. Adding to this cynical view, politics have begun to take on a pessimistic spin. Donald Trump argues that “our country is going to hell,” while, on the other side of the aisle, Bernie Sanders has claimed that America “will not survive morally or economically” due to economic inequality. Politicians have turned negative to tap into an increasingly sour mood that has taken over our country.
Conservatives argue that gun control, burdensome taxes and government control are leading to Armageddon, while Liberals fire back that climate change, economic divides and racial issues are hurtling us to our demise. We’re increasingly coming to view our country’s issues not as the next obstacle to overcome through hard work and determination by both sides, but as evidence that our country is awful.
Simply put, pessimism has become mainstream in our society. Yet, a quick look at our country’s current situation reveals a different story.
Today, our economy has seen over five years of steady growth and the Dow Jones industrial average is currently sitting at the highest point it has ever been at. Our military is the strongest in the world, backed up by an American dollar that is the most popular currency on the planet. At home, crime and major diseases have, for years, continued to drop while more people are educated in our country than ever before. Hate crimes are at the lowest levels since 1994 and more women are serving in our current Congress than any other. Taking everything into consideration, it is far better to be born today than any other time before.
These are statistics that are often forgotten in our society — one which is increasingly given a negative outlook — yet they shouldn’t be. A more optimistic attitude is desperately needed.
Today, our country faces significant issues, but a pessimistic attitude fails to address them. Pessimists try to delay change in order to remember a falsely perceived “better” time, whereas optimists work together to create positive change.
The next set of reforms is needed, but if we continue to be pessimistic they might not come. We must reject Trump and others’ notions that America is quickly becoming a “third world country” and understand that we, as a country, are still equipped with the resources to meet serious problems with serious solutions.
