Every time you turn on radio or TV you hear reasons why we are about to be bankrupted by the government, destroyed by a meteor, cheated by big business or just caught up in Armageddon. We hear all of these things because research says we like being scared to death. By the way, research is what radio and TV do as a replacement for thinking.

So, in the face of all the doom and gloom, you may wonder if being optimistic is the same as being naive.

Judge for yourself.

I recently read about an online education initiative between Harvard and MIT.

First of all, cooperation between these two schools tells me that peace in the Middle East is possible, but in the words of that guy on TV, "Wait, there's more!"

The courses offered are of a nature to help people retrain for today's jobs. The courses are free. And the first course offered had 120,000 people sign up and 20,000 stuck with it.

Now, if you are an executive of the National Education Association or a contractor that builds schools, this may not seem like a great thin. But if you are like me and just want the younger generation to have the best education possible to prepare them for the real world they will face, it seems like a good reason to be optimistic.

I could be wrong...maybe I'll do some research.