With optimism you look upon the sunny side of things. People say 'Studs you're an optimist.' I never said I was an optimist. I have hope because what's the alternative to hope? Despair? If you have despair you might as well put your head in the oven.
None of us got where we are solely by pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. We got here because somebody - a parent a teacher an Ivy League crony or a few nuns - bent down and helped us pick up our boots.
