CURRENT EVENTS
OPTIMISM
December 2016
Staying Positive in a World Riddled with Sadness
BY EMILY AINSWORTH
Alexander
Kitano, junior,
describes
himself as
optimistic.
The world’s got problems, and I’m going to
estimate that there are more than ninety-nine of
them. The planet is heating up and, in turn,
islands and coastlines are drowning. Warm
waters are causing coral bleaching, which is
killing the Great Barrier Reef. Middle Eastern
women, killed by their husbands and fathers in
routine “honor killings,” have acid thrown in
their faces and are sent to jail for being raped. A
terrorist group is waging war. This doesn’t even
begin to scratch the surface of the troubles that
plague the world.
It can be difficult to see the good in the world.
Many awful things are happening, which makes
optimism essential to keep from being crushed by
the gravity of our problems.
Photo
courtesy of
Alexander
Kitano.
Hope is key to staying optimistic. John Hunter,
teacher and creator of the “World Peace Game,”
epitomizes hope. In his interview with Guy Raz
on “Ted Hour Radio” with NPR, he said that he
finds a “great, positive, forward looking
excitement about life in young people.” He
recognizes that they have an open-mindedness
that allows them to approach problems in a way
that adults cannot.
what his generation damaged. Hunter said,
“They may be able to save us all.”
Many people from this generation are incredibly
optimistic. Alexander Kitano, junior, believes
that focusing on what is positive in life is key to
being optimistic. “Part of staying an optimist is
focusing on those things that aren’t negative,”
Kitano said. He pointed out that when someone
focuses on the negatives in life, he or she will
become negative.
Hunter’s “World Peace Game” is based on the
creation of possible world problems that
challenge his students’ abilities to solve the
dilemmas together. Hunter created the game for
his students to fail in the beginning, so they could
see what it is was like to have to start at zero and
fix the problem through collaboration and
togetherness.
One way Kitano focuses on remaining optimistic
is acknowledging his failure but also realizing
that he did the best he possibly could. Sometimes
life doesn’t go according to plan, but recognizing
the effort that was put into achieving those goals
helps people cope when the outcome is
undesirable. Kitano believes that everything in
life will eventually work itself out.
Hunter remains hopeful for the future because
he believes that the upcoming generation will
find that they can do anything and solve any
problem. He believes that this generation can fix
8
!