Despite being old enough to know better I remain an optimist. It is not because I feel that everything has been good, or is good, or will be good. It's more because I desire things to be better and I find that optimism is the most practical way to get there.

Being a pessimist is a form of laziness. It enables one to sit on the sidelines and moan about how awful it all is, and how much worse it will become. "Why bother?" the pessimist asks. And by taking that attitude the pessimist becomes more and more accurate.

When life gets better, and sometimes it does, there is an optimist behind it. Someone who is willing to risk time and effort and safety to bring about the improvement.

It may be that pessimists are right more often than optimists. So what? The pessimist's reward for being right is that life is worse. The optimist's reward is that life is better.

I've read a lot recently about how politics is hopeless and all politicians are corrupt and so forth. Much of this is about how Obama can't be elected, or if he is elected that he will turn out to be just like any other politician.

I refuse to go down that road. I think that there is a good chance that he will be elected president. If he is, then there is no chance that he will be worse than the incumbent. And I believe that he will be far better than the business-as-usual alternative.

But this entry is not really about politics. It's about approaching life with love and a dash of faith in the possibility of joy. Start a project that might not succeed. Listen to someone who might not reciprocate.

There is nothing about being an optimist that says that you have to ignore reality. I do not advise picking up a red hot rock with your bare hands. But refusing to experience something because it might be hurtful is on the path to experiencing nothing at all. This is especially true for emotional risks.

Enough preaching. It's time to go out and enjoy the sunshine.