"THINKING, WORKING, AND EXPECTING THE BEST"


by James



This essay was a finalist in the Leaders of Hope Youth Category. In his application he shared "I wish I could share this with more people, but I don't know how." This is here for you, James, and your dedication to your family. Thank you.




Thinking, working, and expecting the best means to be optimistic, in my opinion. Being optimistic means one who is hopeful, positive, and expects a great outcome. I myself am an optimist. I hope for the good. A pessimist is one who expects the worst, or is always negative about things. When you expect the best you will achieve the best. Optimists will go farther in life because of their positive attitudes. But a pessimist will never achieve their goals because they don't believe they can.


For example, if you have a disease or illness and keep a positive attitude that things will get better, they will get better. If you are negative and feel that you won't get well and things won't ever get better, they won't. My dad is the most optimistic person I know. He won't let the diagnosis of MS get him down. He keeps a positive attitude all the time and expects nothing but the best from himself or anyone else. He takes a lot of medicine and hurts all the time.

I'm sure that it would be very easy for him to just give up and be negative. But he won't. He has a family to take care of and he wants to be a good example for his children. He teaches me every day about positive attitudes. He tells me always to do my best and expect the best from everyone else. There is no room for less than that.

My dad is constantly busy. He works a full time job, keeps our cars clean and safe, makes the yard look nice, and many other daily things. But he always seems to have time to play with us. Sometimes he is too tired to wrestle, so he will find something easy to do like a board game or a video game. And that's OK because I just like being with him.

When someone new finds out that he has MS, they can't believe it. They always say that he doesn't "look" sick. Well he's not sick. He just has this weird disease. But a lot has to do with his positive attitude and positive thinking. I am happy that he is teaching me about always being positive and thinking positive. He was taught by his dad. And I will teach my children the same thing.

Positive thinking and positive attitudes are definitely important things. You feel better about yourself and other people like to be around you. Negative people are miserable and make everyone else miserable. No one wants to be around them. Positive people are fun to be around. They make you feel good about yourself and expect you to give them the same feeling. Positive thinking, positive attitudes and expecting only the best are the only keys to a better life.



Comments from James' Mother

This speech was written by my son, James, when he was 10 yrs old. He is now almost 13. He wrote this for an oratorical contest when he was in the 5th grade. He had to write on a specific topic, "Thinking, Working and Expecting the Best."

He won 1st place for the boys division. He is now in the 7th grade. He is such a great kid, with such a big heart. I am so proud of him. My husband was diagnosed with MS almost 5 yrs ago. He is doing really good. Both of our boys love their daddy so much and James wrote this as a tribute to his daddy. I sent a copy of this letter to my husband's neurologist and because of it, she created a day in August when all of her patients got together and had a "children's day." It was completely geared toward the children (whether they be nieces, nephews, grans, etc) of MS patients and to help them to understand this "weird" disease.


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