Long ago, you asked me why I’m an optimist;

 

Why I choose to see the silver lining in a never-ending gray sky;

 

Why I continue digging miles for an ounce of gold while others go home.

 

Because that silver lining could be enough to illuminate the sky,

 

Because that ounce of gold could bring back the light in someone’s eyes,

 

Because it’s who I was born to be.

 

Instead of accepting it, you challenge me,

 

Put me in hypothetical situations with only mere seconds to find the needle in your endless haystack.

 

Give me a test before I learn the material.

 

You should know, pop quizzes and I have never gotten along.

 

You laugh, saying I'm naive.

 

That I don't truly understand the cruelty of the world

 

Believe me, I do.

 

I know across the seas men are slaughtered like cattle.

 

Women systemically raped time after time,

 

Their children sold into slavery or burned alive.

 

Do not underestimate me.

 

"Optimist" is not the same as "naive,"

 

Do not interchange them as though they are synonyms.

 

I know the world is harsh and unforgiving,

 

But I keep trying.

 

Because I see a world where all this is just a bad memory,

 

Where humanity truly embraces each other,

 

And I want to take the first step in that direction.

 

So you ask me why I'm an optimist?

 

Why I choose to see the good in everything around me?

Because it’s who I was born to be.