Optimism is important in realizing one's true potential, and it is important to have when times are tough and everything seems hopeless. Both Jenny from the short story “Circus in town” and Chris Gardener from The article “Happyness for Sale” experienced this. Jenny has hopes and dreams that cannot be financially met by her parents, and Chris went through homelessness with his young son where trying to live was a struggle in itself. Without the optimism both Jenny and Chris possess, they could easily fall into the dark hole of depression and hopelessness.
Jenny in the short story "Circus in Town" has a dream to go and see the circus. However her family is poor and cannot afford to take her, so her brother brings her part of …show more content…
In 1982 he was living on the streets because Chris couldn’t afford to pay rent, and child care for his 20 month-old son who he was responsible for. During this time Gardner would wake up, sometimes in a bathroom, get dressed, send his son to daycare and go to work. He worked making approximately 200 calls a day. "Every time I picked up the phone" he recalls, "I knew I was getting closer to digging myself out of the hole". (Chris Gardner, paragraph 2) Because of the optimism he possessed Chris was able to look past all the unfortunate things that were happening and focus on the good progress he was making. " One day he saw a red Ferrari and, intrigued by the beauty of the car, asked the owner what he did for a living. Stockbroker, the man replied. From that moment, Gardner determined to become one too". (paragraph 7) That car was the prize for when he reached his goal to become a stockbroker. Chris Gardener never lost his optimism, allowing him to never give up hope so that he could achieve great things. He successfully raised his son on his own and got a proper home, he got married and had a daughter, and he opened Gardener Rich, his own institutional brokerage firm. Finally he also got his Ferrari, the prize for never losing hope, and for working hard until he
Jenny in the short story "Circus in Town" has a dream to go and see the circus. However her family is poor and cannot afford to take her, so her brother brings her part of …show more content…
In 1982 he was living on the streets because Chris couldn’t afford to pay rent, and child care for his 20 month-old son who he was responsible for. During this time Gardner would wake up, sometimes in a bathroom, get dressed, send his son to daycare and go to work. He worked making approximately 200 calls a day. "Every time I picked up the phone" he recalls, "I knew I was getting closer to digging myself out of the hole". (Chris Gardner, paragraph 2) Because of the optimism he possessed Chris was able to look past all the unfortunate things that were happening and focus on the good progress he was making. " One day he saw a red Ferrari and, intrigued by the beauty of the car, asked the owner what he did for a living. Stockbroker, the man replied. From that moment, Gardner determined to become one too". (paragraph 7) That car was the prize for when he reached his goal to become a stockbroker. Chris Gardener never lost his optimism, allowing him to never give up hope so that he could achieve great things. He successfully raised his son on his own and got a proper home, he got married and had a daughter, and he opened Gardener Rich, his own institutional brokerage firm. Finally he also got his Ferrari, the prize for never losing hope, and for working hard until he