It is a testament to American optimism that in the face of all the furies being heaped on us so many continue to be relatively upbeat. We are robustly hopeful despite each new day’s reports of stores closing, companies collapsing, even people offering to work for free if they can keep their health care. We remain expectant that something will eventually start to turn around. Pretty soon…tomorrow, certainly sometime this year.

The new guy in Washington, the one we’re counting on to get this economy back on track, is trying to fix things. He wants.. many of us want.. his stimulus package to go forth. We really can’t wait much longer because the crisis is moving in downtown, next door. Into the living room.

And yet some people in Washington say wait longer. People who must feel personally secure in their own jobs, homes and retirement portfolios. They say the plan isn’t perfect enough. They want to rip it up and start over. Too risky. No guarantees. What if it doesn’t work?

Well, we are in scary dark waters. Unchartered ones, for sure. The worst crisis in most people’s memory. But we need to keep moving. I think we need to take a lesson from Charlie and Rosie.

Like now, going round and round isn’t an option.

You know Charlie and Rosie – from the movie “The African Queen,” trying to escape down an un-navigable river, moving from one disaster to the next in their small wooden boat, fired at by German soldiers, attacked by leeches and swarms of insects that made them go almost out of their minds. But there could be no backing up, even when it meant plunging over killer falls and tumbling into rapids.

At one point they come to a part of the river that turns into a maze of narrow, twisting channels full of reeds, with no obvious way out. Rosie says something to Charlie like “Where is the main channel? What do we do? We can’t just go round and round.” Charlie doesn’t know and tells her to choose. He says something like “You pays your money, you takes your chances.” Rosie points and away they go.

Just like now, going round and round isn’t an option. We can’t wait for Congress to pick apart this crisis and keep arguing about what to do. A lot of the critics have been thundering down Plunder Road for years. Now they’ve turned into a bunch of Nervous Nay Sayers. If they had such great alternative solutions why are we just now hearing about them? It’s not like this crash just began.

I don’t understand all the details of the stimulus package. I like that unemployed workers would keep their health insurance, that unemployment checks would be extended. No teachers would be laid off. Money would go into weatherizing houses and other green projects. The plan to reinforce bridges and roads would be welcome, especially here in earthquake country.

There is no certainty of course. It’s a crap shoot. But I’d rather trust the new guy than the old ones who are dragging their wingtips. Let’s get going. Start stimulating.

Charlie and Rosie made their choice and ended up stuck on the mud, sick with fever, dying, they thought. But then…well it all turned out okay. Luck was on their side, maybe because they had the guts to move. We should be as brave.