I’m sure there are going to be some people who will dismiss a new Pew Hispanic Center study as the whining of Latinos – it says that 54 percent of my ethnic brethren believe we have been hit harder by the economic struggles of recent years than others in our society.

Of course, anyone who’s honest has to admit that the problems we have faced for some five years now haven’t benefitted anyone in any way.

BUT THE PART of the study released last week that caught my attention the most was a part that turned up near the end – it seems that we are eternal optimists.

For some 67 percent of Latinos expect their financial situation to improve during 2012 – higher than the 58 percent of the U.S. population as a whole. Also, 66 percent of Latinos told the pollsters that they expect their children to enjoy a higher standard of living than they have now.

As opposed to 48 percent of all people who think the same thing.

Are we just naïve? Gullible? Or is the American Dream still alive and thriving, and the people who have their hang-ups now are merely upset that more people are trying to grab a piece of that “pie” that our nation supposedly offers up that makes us one of the most desirable places on Planet Earth in which to live?

IT COULD BE that there are those among the 16 percent of our society that is Latino are at a place on the economic scale that isn’t pretty high. Therefore, just about anything would be regarded as an improvement. I’m not going to deny the element of truth in that argument.

For that same survey showed 75 percent of Latinos saying their personal finances were only “fair” or “poor,” and that 28 percent of those Latinos who own homes are having problems with the mortgage payments.

But it is an encouragement to see the belief in our society that still exists.

For it makes me all the more convinced that Latinos are going to be the impetus that keeps our society alive and thriving. We’re still willing to work and push and strive for better – which is what we should want in a society.

NOT A BATCH of people whose idea of reform for our society is a series of policies that amount to “protectionism” for themselves, and exclusion for anyone else who might also want to try the immigrant route – which truly is the basis of our society.

It is why I occasionally make the joke that the people who rant and rage about immigrants turning the United States into a “third world” nation are the ones who really would turn this into “third world” status if they ever were given their vision of what this country should be like.

Such optimism from my ethnic brethren is encouraging to read about – even though I’m sure the xenophobes of our society aren’t going to want to believe it.

Somebody still believes in the concept of America, and is interested in the idea of being a “real” American. It isn’t the people who usually try to claim that label for themselves.

POST COMMENTS BELOW

SOUTHCHICAGOAN.COM