Life is too short to not be optimistic.

It's often that in this day and age we are discouraged by things around us. It's hard not to be when people constantly say things like that our generation is going to have a hard time finding jobs and that everyone is getting fat and lazy and that we practically need PHDs to be successful. It's hard to be optimistic when all the focus in the media are crimes, military coups, murders and starvation. And yes life is hard. There are probably very few people who will tell you "Hey! Life's easy." The wonderful thing is though that life is... well wonderful. And it always seems to take us about 50 years too late to realize it.

One day when I was in Europe I was sitting on the bus and I remembered something really sad. Something that most people, myself included, don't think about on a normal basis. Human trafficking. I was sitting there and I started thinking about all these women, children and even men being sold and abused. I was so overwhelmed by the thought that I couldn't sit still in my seat. I felt useless. I was brought to tears by the thought of numbers in the millions. How can we not see this? How is it so hidden that we go by on a day to day basis without encountering it? I felt guilty, how could I be sitting here on this bus so blessed going through with my day to to day life and have such terrible things be going on.

The point of my story was that I eventually had to push the thoughts out of my head and go on, but it made me realize something. And in a twisted sort of way. I decided to focus on the good things. I'm not naive. I know there are terrible things going on in the world. And I hope one day I can do something to make whatever contribution I can to anything. But there is also a lot of good. Life is too short to not be optimistic. I like to think that humans are innately good. I like to believe that there are still more people out there who strive for a greater good. The world around us is a beautiful place and even on bad days it's nice to have a reminder of some joyful things. So here you are... here are some simple pictures that make me appreciate life.

And best of all this quote...

-M