The Always Optimistic Man

The Always Optimistic Man

Stanley S. Berman

A speech by Jennifer M. Nelson

Helen Keller once said “Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.”  This quote sums up my grandpa Stan’s life and outlook on it.  My grandpa grew up poor but with optimism and faith that he could be something more became quite successful in life.  Three things my grandpa has taught me are to be a hard worker, to always be optimistic, and to seek adventure.

My grandfather has had to work hard his whole life.  He grew up in Brooklyn, New York during the great depression knowing life wouldn’t be easy. His parents worked constantly and he helped out as much as he could with his family’s candy luncheonette store.  When he graduated from high school at the age of seventeen he knew he wanted to get away from the New York atmosphere, to some place less competitive and with less concrete. He craved a more rural environment, leading him to move to Forest Grove, Oregon, where he entered Pacific University with the ambition to become an optometrist.  It took five and a half years and a lot of work, but with a lot of hard work he got through it himself, tuition and all. He was the spitting image of the American Dream, pulling himself into success by his own bootstraps.  He also did a lot of other ambitious things with his life.  After he started his own practice and had some money saved he invested in a lot of property, usually apartments and again with a lot of hard work made them successful and came out with more than he started with.  Today he still owns a lot of properties, they are mainly mini storages.  He has always worked hard for what he wants and a phrase he has often told me through my life and that reflects his life is that “anything worthwhile is hard.”

Something else I admire in my grandfather, shown through his actions and words, is his ability to always have a positive attitude.  I have never heard him say one negative thing.  He always sees the glass as half full and he has told me that it has always been that way.  He has also told me that for some reason once he made up his mind to do something he never had any doubts that he wouldn’t achieve it.  In his last year of college he had no money for food or tuition but he got up the guts to go in front of the administration and ask for a loan which wasn’t very common then.  They agreed to it.  He still had to borrow money from his uncle and one of his roommates to get through that year but succeeded in finishing college and as soon as he could, paid them back.  He always knew there would be hard work and obstacles in life and that life isn’t always easy, yet he possessed the ability to look past the difficulties to the positive impact that he would have on the world around him.

My grandfather is the most adventurous and active person I know.  He has been all over the world and he is also very athletic which has allowed him keep traveling throughout the years.  In the last sixty years he has been to six continents and over 30 countries as well as to every state in America and every province in Canada.  He is an avid outdoors man.  He loves to hike, swim, ski, fish, bike, sail, and much more.  He is still in great shape despite a knee and hip replacement as well as seventy-nine soon to be eighty years of life.  Every day he isn’t on an adventure he works out and he is stronger than most the boys I know my age.  He seeks to live a full life; to experience all there is to see, witness, feel, taste, hear, and know in this world.

My grandpa is truly my greatest inspiration and encourager and I am so grateful for him and proud to be his granddaughter.  He has taught me about the importance of hard work, optimism, and adventure.  He is a man that counts himself very lucky for everything in his life and knows that he has earned it.  Helen Keller once said “Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” 

1. I feel my speech went well although I needed some more eye contact.

2. I could have improved my speech by  adding more stories to make it more relate-able and give it more feeling.

3. I really liked Marlene and Jonathon's speeches. They either left me crying or on the brink of it.  I also enjoyed Madison and Madelyn's speeches.

4. Once again I could do better at delivery but this time also content.

5. I need to stop looking down when I get nervous.

6. I practiced saying it to a lot of my friends and looked in the book when I got stuck.