Why Believe

In a recent study, 81% of the class of '09 interviewed by NY Magazine declared themselves optimistic.

"Looking on the bright side has become all but mandatory in our culture" says Barbara Ehrenreich, and everyone from Kennedy to Obama have reminded us of its importance in the American Dream.

But Optimism does have its foes:

If you spent anytime in Europe you probably heard people describing America's optimism as "childish" (in 1947, Simone de Beauvoir wrote: I'm irritated by those imperious invitations to 'take life easy', repeated in words and images throughout the day. On advertisements ...the smile seems like lockjaw. The constipated girl smiles a loving smile at the lemon juice that relieves her intestines. In the subway, in the streets, on magazine pages, these smiles pursue me like obsessions).

Older people's sarcastic declarations of "admiration for your youthful optimism" have plagued teenage dreams the world over and now even Ehrenreich argues that "promotion of positive thinking has undermined America".

Now look at your work place: your professional self, your colleagues, your clients, your bosses. How many of you truly believe that anything is possible to the point of actually doing what it takes. To challenge the nay-sayers and pursue that dream until that crazy project actually gets done, until your agency does redefine the landscape, until your brand does shape popular culture and until you look back and tell yourself you love what you do. Everyday.

I am going to shut up now, give you a second to think about it.

Now enjoy this beautiful 1972 talk by Viktor Frankl: