What are your reasons for optimism?

Matt Drudge of the Drudge Report highlighted a link to this story headlined "Everything seemingly is spinning out of control." The article, I think pretty much captures the sense of despair many in the country are feeling right now, as the writer enumerates the downers : high gas prices, Midwest flooding, the war in Iraq, well...Here is the lede, spelling it all out:

Is everything spinning out of control?

Midwestern levees are bursting. Polar bears are adrift. Gas prices are skyrocketing. Home values are abysmal. Air fares, college tuition and health care border on unaffordable. Wars without end rage in Iraq, Afghanistan and against terrorism.
Horatio Alger, twist in your grave.
The can-do, bootstrap approach embedded in the American psyche is under assault. Eroding it is a dour powerlessness that is chipping away at the country's sturdy conviction that destiny can be commanded with sheer courage and perseverance.

TK: And if the country is feeling doom and gloom, how much more the fresh tomato industry might be given to that inclination, given the last few weeks of the salmonella outbreak? Yet, as Americans, where is our optimism? As a member of the produce industry, what gives you hope?

I challenge anyone reading this post to leave a comment telling why you are hopeful about tomorrow, what makes you optimistic.

What make me optimistic? It starts with family for me. I know that as a parent - even with all the mistakes I made - that our children have the character they need to succeed in whatever future unfolds before them.

For the industry, I'm optimistic that "this too shall pass."Perhaps because of the salmonella outbreak linked to tomatoes, both industry and government will make changes that will prevent a similar outbreak in the future.