By the time I left the service station， I was feeling a little uneasy. About a block away， I pulled over to the side of the road to look at my face in the mirror. How did I feel？ Was I jaundiced？ Was everything all right？ By the time I got home， I was beginning to feel a little queasy. Did I have a bad liver？ Had I picked up some rare disease？
The next time I went into that gas station， feeling fine again， I figured out what had happened. The place had recently been painted a bright， bilious yellow， and the light reflecting off the walls made everyone inside look as though they had hepatitis！ I wondered how many other folks had reacted the way I did. I had let one short conversation with a total stranger change my attitude for an entire day. He told me I looked sick， and before long， I was actually feeling sick. That single negative observation had a profound effect on the way I felt and acted.
The only thing more powerful than negativism is a positive affirmation， a word of optimism and hope. One of the things I am most thankful for is the fact that I have grown up in a nation with a grand tradition of optimism. When a whole culture adopts an upward look， incredible things can be accomplished. When the world is seen as a hopeful， positive place， people are empowered to attempt and to achieve.
Optimism doesn’t need to be naive. We can be an optimist and still recognize that problems exist and that some of them are not dealt with easily. But what a difference optimism makes in the attitude of the problem solver！ Optimism diverts our attention away from negativism and channels it into positive， constructive thinking. When you’re an optimist， you’re more concerned with problem-solving than with useless carping about issues. In fact， without optimism， issues as big and ongoing as poverty have no hope of solution. It takes a dreamer—someone with hopelessly optimistic ideas， great persistence， and unlimited confidence—to tackle a problem that big. It’s your choice.