Optimism is Not Overrated

Originally published March 2010

For good reasons, the policy community of Washington, DC is not in a very good mood. Health care reform still hangs. The unemployment numbers stink. Reaching a consensus on energy policy seems a long way off.

Perhaps most strikingly, our president has reached a real rough patch. A very liberal and Obama-supporting friend put it to me bluntly the other day: “I really don’t know what would be different today if we had elected McCain.” From this friend, the comment was a shocker.

But on a recent, quick trip to DC for a dinner event, I was surprised by something else: Can-do conversations in a coffee shop.

I had arrived in DC early and found a nook in Dupont Circle where I could pass the time. Settling in, ready to whip through Blackberry emails NYC-style, I began to overhear the conversation at a neighboring table (and no, this does not qualify as eavesdropping).

Two twenty-something guys were talking about their start-up. They discussed the concept, the pitch they had created for their upcoming road show across the country, and why they were enthused about future prospects. They got into the mechanics of their product and clearly knew the technology inside and out – it seemed to be a kind of data networking system (and no, I still wasn’t eavesdropping!)

What struck me was the ease and enthusiasm with which they rattled off their ideas – they made the system seem simple, functional and manageable. While they knew the going would be tough for awhile, that they would need to work hard and sell their concept with all their might, these guys were passionate. They were buzzing with possibility. They were young and idealistic (and unrealistic?)

But they also were willing to give their entrepreneurial dream a shot.

This particular table must have been oddly charmed, because as the start-up meeting ended and the entrepreneurs headed out, two other men sat down and began to converse.

They were think tank guys and started a broad discussion, commenting on their work, their theories, their future research, and how it all would interface with the news of the moment. They covered the buzzwords of the day and the reasons for despair – all pretty standard.

But they also discussed hope – and the confidence that their efforts, if positioned smartly, could help change things and move the ball forward in a positive direction. They were lit up by possibility, which was a very pleasant shift away from the scowls more pervasive of late. Their discussion actually put me in a much better mood.

My mood shifted later on in the evening, when the dinner conversation I observed suggested we really do have a long way to go to come to any sort of policy consensus on energy. The smart, talented and experienced people sharing their perspectives all sounded a similar note: They wished leaders in Washington would see the pressing need to get going on energy, but with numerous other fires to put out, they just did not know if our present leadership would be up to the task.

Yet as dinner was wrapping up, one of the dinner participants helped to bring my earlier tinge of optimism back to our table: she noted that her 15 year-old daughter had started a Facebook awareness campaign for energy conservation and was convinced that her efforts were having an impact.

She also told her mother she believed her generation really was capable of addressing some of the country’s major challenges through a revved-up dedication to making things right. Not too shabby for 15.

So with bad news front-and-center every day, here’s the good news: entrepreneurs, deep, committed thinkers, and bright, energetic young people still exist in this country. And they have hope for the future.

It’s time we started celebrating these positives, supporting them and reintegrating them into our national narrative. I think it would put us all in a much better mood.

Christina Ciocca grew up in Darien and graduated from Greenwich Academy. She works in communications and public relations at The Dilenschneider Group in New York City.