Upbeat Prescriptions for the Blues : Amid hard times across the state, calls for optimism and commitment are being sounded

A little optimism can go a long way. So can a measure of personal commitment. California will need both of these in the months and years to come. The ultimate answer to California’s problems--besides better government, wiser laws and, let us not forget, a much improved U.S. economy--is individual commitment and a spirit of optimism. That virtue and that attitude are what originally helped catapult this state to a position that has been the envy of the world. It is those qualities that, more than anything else, will enable us to regain our momentum.

Gov. Pete Wilson, in last week’s State of the State address, spoke with markedly more optimism than he has on previous occasions. It was a delightful change. It is welcome indeed to find the governor more optimistic than in the past, when he at one point called California a “bad product.” And the new tone reflected by his speech is to be recommended to others.

Peter V. Ueberroth, in a Times Op-Ed piece last week, made a similar point: Let’s “start talking positively about our city.” But the head of Rebuild L.A.--the ambitious private effort to assist investment in some of the city’s most troubled neighborhoods--also emphasized the need for each individual to “dedicate yourself to a project that you personally can do to make Los Angeles a better place.” That’s a particularly strong idea. We would argue that very few places--if any--have managed to assemble the captivating conglomerate of talent and energy that Los Angeles has. Properly focused, this L.A. conglomerate could prove to be a powerful instrument of change.

Leadership is desperately important, of course, and we hope that this year’s mayoral race will produce an energetic and forward-thinking chief executive to provide that for the city. But waiting for politicians to lead is sometimes not unlike waiting for Samuel Beckett’s fictional Godot. Many politicians like to follow, preferring the security of the safe path to the riskier but more courageous path not chosen.

At times citizens need to take their destiny into their own hands. The wrong way to do it is with an exercise in mayhem and violence such as last spring’s riots. The right way to do it is to ask of yourself: What can I give back to this place that has given so much to so many--and which, if we manage our destiny right, will have much to offer future generations? Is citizenship a one-way street--in which we are only on the receiving, not giving, end? In the answer to those questions lies the future of our city.