Naive, but in a good way.

Yesterday, on my drive from South Lake over to the opposite side of the lake, I listened to an NPR show that featured Sam Terrell, a culinary student and aspiring musician in Hyde Park, Chicago, who is the same age as me.

Here is a short transcript of his interview with NPR:

NPR: How do you feel in general about your generation - People in their 20’s who are graduating from school and looking ahead?

ST: A lot of my friends are kind of in limbo and don’t know exactly where they want to go, but at the same time they aren’t too worried. I don’t think it keeps them up at night.

NPR: It’s interesting because we have a lot of reports and conversations on the air right now about how bad the economy is right now…how it could be in rough shape for a sustained period of time. What gives you that level of hope when you read those headline?

ST: I don’t know. Maybe luck in the past. Maybe naivety.

NPR: Feeling naive, but in a good way?

ST: Yeah, maybe just that I am young and haven’t had my back up against the wall just yet.

My throat tightened as I listened to Sam's interview. We are Naive, and thank God for it. If the woes of the economy kept my generation up at night, kept us from pursuing our dreams, then where would we be?

My question to you, mom and pop, as you drive across this grand country, is, how are my peers? Are they indeed optimistic about their future like Sam Terrell and I? Or not?