Hey.

As we move along in this big celebration, I wanted to take some time to talk to you, the people who have subscribed to this blog. Days, weeks, months, or years. You’ve stuck around, and I’m thankful for that.

In recent months, I began referring followers of this blog to “Optimists”. You are an Optimist if you follow this blog. I am an Optimist. You are an Optimist.

The goal of this blog, among other things, is to inspire a new way of looking at things. Look at this logo:

This is the site icon. If you’re on desktop (and probably tablet) you would see this on the browser tab. It’s short for Dante’s Optimism. But, it also reads as “DO”.

Optimists have something they need to DO: Bring a positive spin to the world. That’s your job. What, you thought I did all of the talking? Please. You gotta DO your part, too. Let people know there are good people. For every bad person you see, you have to show people there is a good person in that same field.

Bad cop. Good cop.

Bad teacher. Good teacher.

Bad person. Good person.

It’s a battle. You have to counter those negative stories and restore people’s faith in humanity. We have to lean on each other as well. That’s what we have to DO.

If you have followed me on Twitter for a long time, you’ve noticed a recent change in what I retweet. I no longer retweet harmful stories. My feed is growing into something fun and positive to look at. Well, my Sixers tweets have a lot of venom. But, in real life, I don’t RT crap anymore. My followers don’t need to see that from me.

The Optimists have a job to DO. I already told you. There really isn’t a right or wrong way of doing it, either. Some people will blog it. Some will sing it. Some will create a perfect meme. There are so many talents out there.

What the enemy uses for evil, we can use for good. Politics are crazy right now. You have to choose to be optimistic. Being optimistic is looking at things and saying, despite the situation, I will look at the better side of things. We’re not ignoring what’s going on. We’re not pretending it’s not there. We’re not trying to be ignorant to the life and world we live in.

Instead, we’re choosing to make it better. To be better. To encourage others to be better. You may unwittingly prevent the next shooting. Crime. Scandal. Just by bringing a positive outlook to someone’s storm cloud.

With all of that said, I am launching a new feature on the blog, dedicated to the Optimists of the world. It’s a place where we can get a renewed sense of our purpose as well as something that you can share to a friend in need.

DO. We are Optimists. We believe. We DO.

#ImAnOptimist