... pain can be all for the best

I'm in the middle of high school swim season right now.  And it's rough. We have two-a-day practices which basically make me want to die and two meets a week.  Since it is the night after two particularly hard practices I'm in a pretty negative mood.  But I know it will get better.

Today we ran two miles in the morning after weight lifting.  And that may not sound like very much, but I'm a swimmer and not a runner for a reason.  Running is hard for me, and this run imparticular was difficult.  I usually go into things like this with thoughts such as "This is stupid!" or "I'm never going to finish this," which clearly doesn't make the run any easier.  But shutting off negative thoughts is harder than you would think.  It's easy to think the night before, "Hey, tommorrow I'm going to work really hard at practice," but following through in the morning is a completely different situation.  But back to the run, I finished it despite my negative attitude.  Then this afternoon we did a difficult set in the pool.  And being the strong person I am, I developed a hip injury.  This is pretty common for me after I run, and I have no idea why.

With my pained hip I didn't get out of the set, I got to do it on the same time as everyone else, but only using my arms.  So now as I'm sitting here writing for my blog I'm in some serious pain.  My arms and legs and killing, and I know practice tomorrow is going to be rough too.  So my mental state is pretty weak too.  But sitting here with aching muscles feels kind of good, too.  I know  I worked hard today at practice, so when the end of the season comes I'll just be that much faster.  And practicing tomorrow with sore muscles is going to make swimming at State and Districts seem like a piece of cake.  It makes me feel like, if I can do this now when I feel horrible, what am I going to be able to do when I feel fantastic and well rested?  I'll be conquering the world.

So even though the pain is real rough, especially in the middle of a set or jog, I think it might all be worth it.  If it makes me swim faster and drop time, my hard work will be justified.  But what if I don't drop time?  Even then I think it'll still be worth it.  Through swimming I've made a lot of great friends, and the recognition I get is great too.  So even if I end up not getting stellar times, I won't regret it.  For some crazy reason I love swimming, don't ask me why.  The possiblity of improving and knowing that swimming makes me better even if I'm not dropping time makes me feell good.  It makes me optimistic that the pain can be all for the best.

... college will do us both good

This weekend I'm going to visit my sister at college.  And I'm excited.  I don't miss her around the house everyday to be honest, but that's probably because I never really saw her when she did live here.  Over the summer she was gone a lot of the time, and I was gone a lot of the time.  So on the rare occasions when we were home, it wasn't likely that we would run into each other.  And that's kind of sad.

But now that it's been almost a full month since I've seen her in person (I'm not counting our various Skype conversations) I'm getting pumped.  I get to see her college life and her new friends, but most importantly, I think we're going to get along.  My sister and I have a pretty average sibling relationship.  We argue quite a bit and haven't really had too many sister bonding moments.  But after I've talked to quite a few people who also have sisters who have gone off the college, I'm optimistic.  They've all said that since their sibling moved out their relationships have improved a lot.  And my sister and I could use that.

Even right before my sister was officially left at college we had an arguement.  I was helping her set up her dorm room, and apparantly I had made a mess.  (I don't see how this is possible.  Her stuff was strewn all over the room.)  We got in our usual fight where voices were raised and it ended up in everyone being a little upset.  It wasn't until after the disagreement that we realized it was pretty stupid.  This was the last day we were going to see each other for a full month and we were arguing.  However, that didn't stop a few other arguements popping up throughout the rest of the day.

But this weekend when I visit her I think things will be different.  We have been seperated so we will have plenty of things to talk about.  Also, I know she misses me.  She is really homesick even if she won't admit it to me.  My parents have noticed a drop in her spirits, so a visit from her favorite sister should help.  While I'm up there I'm determined to have a good time with her, with as few disagreements as possible.

It will probably take a little effort, but things will be easier.  We will be able to get along and have a great time.  I'm sure of it.  And that's why I'm optimistic that college will be good for both of us.

I'm optimistic that laughter is contagious

And how could I not be.  Have you ever seen four quadruplets laugh hysterically for minutes on end?  Well check it out and then try and tell me you can't spread happiness through laughter.

I'm optimistic that the best is yet to come

In John Brockman's book, What Are You Optimistic About? most contributors wrote pages about scientific evidence on why the world is getting better.  But my favorite entry was very different.  Nicholas Humphrey, a philosopher, wrote about why the world as a whole is getting better.  He says "If I had lived in the year 1007 and had been asked what I looked forward to for my decendents in the next millennium, I might have imagined many wonderful possibilities.  But I would not - because I could not - have imagined the music of Mozart, the painting of Rothko, the sonnets of Shakespeare, the novels of Dostoyevsky.  I would have failed to see one of the vest reasons of all for being optimistic, which is the power of human artistic genius to astonish us again and again.  I will not make the same mistake twice.  So let me say straight out: In 2007, I hope and expect that the best is yet to come, that greater works of art than any the world has ever seen will be created by human beings not far ahead of us - works of currently unimaginable aesthetic and moral force.  And, mind you, it will not require genetic modification, computer hynridization, high-tect brain enhancement or whatever - it will simply require that we continue to be the kind of people we are."

When quoting Humphrey's short writing, I could not find anything to cut out.  I felt his response was perfect and optimistic beyond any of the others I have read in the book so far.  What makes me optimistic is the way he simply believes things will get better just because they always do.  We do not need tons of new science to achieve a better world either.  All we need is to keep trying to improve and to keep being extraordinary human beings.  And I do not believe there is a statement out there that can top the optimism found in Humphrey's last phrase of his response.  "It will simply require that we continue to be the kind of people we are."

I'm optimistic that the universe sends signals

Recently, I watched a new independent horror film called Meadowoods.  Now, I understand that independent films have a lower budget than those made in Hollywood, but there was no excuse for this movie.  It was maybe one of the worst I have ever seen.  Two weeks ago a couple of friends and I rented Meadowoods from a Redbox location and attempted to watch it. We failed.  After getting forty minutes in, we decided we would have a much better time simply going to sleep.  Last night I was hanging out with a similar group of people and we were discussing the experience.  We decided that we did not give Meadowoods a real chance.  So, at eleven o'clock we decided to figure out where we could rent this movie in order to watch it again.  We searched the internet for a Redbox that carried the movie, and the closest one was across town.

We had already made up our minds.  This movie was not bad.  We just had a bad impression of it.  So we left the house to look for the movie.  After getting lost multiple times on the simple route and making one of the largest loops around town we finally arrived at our destination.  My friend jumped out of the car and quickly paid for the movie.  When we got back to the house we looked at a few reviews of the movie before playing it.  None of them were positive.  I believe the movie recieved one star.  But there werer hardly any reviews, so maybe only the people who did not like the movie wrote something.  That is reasonable, right?  No.  I believe the reason there were only a few reviews is because no one else wasted their time watching the full movie.

As soon as we put the movie in we ran into trouble.  It was severly scratched and began skipping after only a few minutes.  We took the movie out.  We thought the movie still had potential, so we looked up ways to fix a scratched DVD on google, and after sorting out the more unrealistic ones we settled on using furniture polish to clean it.  Not that that made any sense...  However the Pledge did seem to help a little, and after fast-forwarding through the initial scratch we did not run into any more severe problems for a while.

The plot of the movie was boring and unrealistic.  Three teenagers wanted to kill someone and get the whole process on video.  I do not understand what they were planning on doing with the video considering the fact that if it was found they would be arrested, but whatever, it was strange.  When asked why they wanted to kill someone the first guy responded that he was bored of his town and wanted to shake up the residents.  Boredom seems like a pretty stupid reason to commit murder, but it at least made a small bit on sense.  The next girl questioned said she wanted to kill someone because, well why not kill someone, people just hurt eachother so there is not really a point to life anyways.  That seemed stupid.  I suspected she was either a sociopath or the writers were simply to uncreative to come up with a better line.  The actress also spoke in a monotone, which really helped the delivery.  When the third person was asked why he was going to kill someone, the disc scratched, and that was probably for the best.

The movie continued on in this boring matter while they choose their random victim.  They liked to speak about the murder in public places without lowering their voices, and no one ever seemed to get suspicious of them.  There was a good twenty minutes of film when they were interviewing their intended victim, trying to find out what scared her most.  She also sang a song she had written herself during the interview, which was not all bad, possibly the high-light of the film.  The teenagers then went to the movie store's horror section for inspiration for how to kill their victim.  They decided on a tactic used in Kill Bill Volume Two.  I believe the climax was supposed to be when they kidnapped their victim, Kayla, but I am not really sure seeing as the DVD skipped that section too.

Next thing we know, two of the characters are pushing Kayla into a wooden box at gunpoint.  I guess they were planning on burying her alive.  There was at least ten minutes of footage where the screen was black and Kayla was screaming, supposedly taken while they were burying her.  They tormented her for a short while, then the third teenager showed up.  Apparantly he had changed his mind about the murder and was going to stop them.  The ending of the movie was very unclear.  One teenager was trying to shoot the teen who was disrupting their plan while the monotone girl shouted for them to stop killing eachother.  All of a sudden the teen with the gun shot himself for no apparant reason.  The disrupter then dug up the box in under a minute (I do not think it was buried very deep), and drug out Kayla, who was already dead.  Perhaps the box collapsed on her?  It was all unclear.  The high-point of the film was definitely the credits.  Under the title "Cast" there were only four characters listed.  Clearly this film had high budget.  And I believe one of the cast members may have been filming the video at all times.

Here is what I learned.  I should listen to the universe.  Clearly it was trying to tell us from the beginning not to watch this movie.  We fell asleep the first time, got lost trying to rent it, and were distracted by multiple scratches.  I am convinced someone watched the movie and intentionally scratched it so no one else would have to suffer the same way they did.  So, I have learned to trust my first instincts, seeing as it would have saved me a dollar and an hour and twenty minutes of my life I would much rather have spent on something more useful then watching Meadowoods.

I'm optimistic that people are good

In John Brockman's book What Are You Optimistic About, David Bodanis came up with an inspiring answer.  The author of Passionate Minds said "I'm optimistic because there's a core decency in people that even the worst machinations of governments can't entirely hold down."  Bodanis explains how the Evelina hospital in London, built around a giant atrium, requires all window cleaners to wear superhero costumes while cleaning.  "The children [at Evelina] in bed - many with grave illnesses - delight in seeing Superman and Spiderman dangling just inches away from them, on the outside of the glass."  Bodanis continues by mentioning the obvious failures of the English health care system, and despite all issues, he reasons for optimism.  "The government has wasted a fortune on consultants, bureaucracy, and reorganizations of the national Health Service.  It's always defended in cold management-speak.  This simple arrangement with the window cleaners cuts through all that.  Everyone I've mentioned it to recognizes that - and in that recognition lies our hope."

To me, it seems comical that when corporate officials were designing contracts for cleaning companies they thought to require costumes.  It softens their impression on me, and leads me to believe that although they can sometimes be sly, even corporate officials have the capacity to be good and truly care for the children.

I'm optimistic that corporations are evolving

According to Optimist World's article "California company Netflix lets staff take as much as they want when they want" by Simon Meadows, the way companies are being run is beginning to change.  Netflix's new holiday system relies on self-discipline.  As long as managers are aware of employees whereabout and their work is being done, then they can take as much vacation time as they want.  Netflix's vice president for corporate communication, Steve Swasey told Optimist World "Rules and policies and regulations and stipulations are innovation killers.  People do their best work when they're unencumbered.  If you're spending a lot of time accounting for the time you're spending, that's time you're not innovating."

I believe Netflix is taking a needed innovative approach to vacation.  The number of people working from home is on the increase, so why can't certain amounts corporate work also be completed while on vacation?  Perhaps unrestricted forms of vacation aren't appropriate for all business models, but not much harm can be done by loosening restrictions on vacation days and letting employees use their self-discipline to complete their work.


Read the Optimist World article here.

I'm optimistic that religion will prevail despite scientific advancements

It's no secret that science and religion have been at "war" for quite some time.  However, not all scientists deny the existence of religion.  In fact, some are quite devout followers.  This is not the case for biologist and author of The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins.  When writing about the final scientific enlightenment in John Brockman's book What Are You Optimistic About?, he states "I am optimistic that the physicists of our species will complete Einstein's dream and discover the final theory of everything before superior creatures, evolved on another world, make contact and tell us the answer... And I am optimistic that this final scientific enlightenment will deal an overdue deathblow to religion and other juvenile superstitions."  It's clear Dawkins is a strict believer in science and just that.  No supernatural force comes into play.

Frank Wilczek, on the other hand, is a physicist at MIT, and is against a theory of everything.  When asked What Are You Optimistic About? he said "I'm optimistic that physics will not achieve a Theory of Everything...  My advice, dear colleagues: Be careful what you wish for.  If you reflect for a moment on what the words actually mean, a Theory of Everything may not appear so attractive.  It would imply that the world could no longer surprise us, had no more to teach us."  Wilczek goes on to credit Einstein and his quest for the Theory of Everything, although he doesn't strive to discover it.  "I take inspiration from the early Einstein, the creative opportunist who consulted nature, rather than the later 'all-or-nothing' romantic who tried (and failed) to dictate to it.  I'm optimistic that it will continue to surprise me and my succesors for a long time."  It seems as though Wilczek is not opposed to religion, but is willing to keep an open mind and embrace the fact that we won't ever understand the laws of the world, which makes religion possible.

Marcelo Gleiser, professor of physics and astronomy at Dartmoth College, sees value in religion.  Although he is an atheist, he opposes scientists regarding religion as pointless.  Gleiser responded to Brockman's question, What Are You Optimistic About? with the following statement.  "I'm optimistic that the debate or, should I say, war between science and religion will see new light...  Although I'm an atheist, I do not forget what is behind the power of religious thought: quite simply, hope... Yes, it's crazy to believe in supernatural influences in the world and to devote your life to a God that seems to have vanished from the world for, by conservative estimate, at least 2,000 years.  But scientists ought not to forget that most people need some sort of spiritual guidance, a kind of guidance that science (at least as it is taught today) cannot offer... I am optimistic that scientists will teach people these lessons [humility and respect for life], instead of simply trying to rob them of their faith and offering nothing in return."  Gleiser doesn't fail to see humanity's need for hope, he just believes science should change so religion doesn't need to fill the void.

It may seem as though all people educated in science don't see a need or place for religion in the modern world, but Anton Zeilinger is optimistic about the future of science, religion, and technology.  In his response to What Are You Optimistic About? he states "I'm optimistic about the future of religion.  We will learn to shed the unessential dogmas, rules, definitions, and prejudices that religions have built up over centuries and millennia... I am convinced that in all major religions we will discover the essentials of what it means to be human...  Science will never be able to prove that God does not exist, and religion will learn that its essence is far deeper than ephemeral questions like whether we were created by evolution or not.  I believe that someday we will arrive at a coherent view of the world that will transcend both what today we call science and what today we call religion."  Zeilinger understands religion won't be disproved and people will continue to follow it.  However, in the future he hopes science and religion will merge to create a world view with the strongest aspects from both.  He sees some aspects of religion continuing to play an important role in everyday life for a long time to come.

As for me, I believe science and religion are both necessary in life.  Many scientists claim that religion is out of place and serves no role, but I disagree.  When people are dying, they don't spend their energy saying words to Aristotle, they pray to God.  God gives them hope they can endure more than they ever thought possible.  Even if God doesn't exist, just simply praying and wishing to get better can sometimes leads to extraordinary results.  Either by God's will or shear determination people have survived unimaginable feats.  These people have religion to thank, whether it is legitimate or not.  Simply the idea of religion serves an important role in society, and any scientist who believes it is unnecessary should speak with a person who has experienced a miracle thanks to their devout religion.  Disbelievers would no longer be able to claim that religion and belief serves no purpose.

Religion also adds a bit of morality to society.  Some people behave and follow laws with the end result of heaven in mind.  I'm sure if religion was discredited society would fall into chaos.  Premarital sex would skyrocket and morals once held true to the religious, such as treating neighbors with respect, would be disregarded.  Science doesn't enforce the same type of morals religion demands.

Of course, life without science would be ridiculous also.  Science adds reason to life, but without the balance of shear hope society and humanity would crash and burn.  If asked what are you optimistic about? I would respond, I'm optimistic that religion will continue to serve a purpose for humanity despite scientific advancements attempting to disprove it.

Hello:)

It's been decided.  My blog is going to be focused on current events or changes over time that have an optimistic outlook.  I was inspired by John Brockman's book "What Are You Optimistic About?: Today's Leading Thinkers on Why Things Are Good and Getting Better", which I will likely get quite a few ideas from.  I hope to contribute a positive outlook on events, while lately there has been so much news concerning economic troubles and war.  I also would like to contribute a young person's voice into recent events and hopefully add a new perspective on the way the world is heading.