Arif Ahmad wrote this poem. Visit his blog.

The Optimist*
By Arif Ahmad

Tough economic times, wars, famine, tsunamis, global meltdown, moral and ethical dehiscence.
So is the glass half full or half empty?
Enough going on to sap the energies, to drain the enthusiasm. Enough going on to cloud common sense.
But wait.
He refuses to be a pessimist. He believes in human will, human resilience, human rebound.
He believes the human race can stand up and deliver.
He counts every human being and asks: How do I better a life? How do I make Mother Earth proud?
How can I first do no harm?
Who is this?
The Good Samaritan. The human spirit. The dreaming child.
The question is: Can he become I, can he become We?

*Dedicated to the writer’s parents, Ismat Bano and Abdul Majeed, for teaching him optimism.