PERSON OF THE YEAR

I believe there could be no other choice this year for Time Magazine to have made.  For many reasons, but none as important as something as simple as hope.  Many people choose to discount or even ridicule the power of hope.  It was hope and belief in the future that pushed the early leaders of our country to greatness.  It was that same hope that spurred the industrial revolution and later that got us through the Great Depression and World War II.   Hope for a better world fueled the civil rights and women's movements.  Hopes and dreams of worlds far beyond ours, sparked our amazing trek to the moon and beyond.  Hope is what drives a single mother to get up every day to go to a dead-end job so that her kids have chance at something better than she will ever have.  Hope leads to optimism, optimism spurs on hard work, can-do spirit and the belief that anything is possible.  There is nothing more American than that belief. There is nothing ridiculous about hope.