Young.
Alfred's lost count of how many times he's heard that word, usually in reference to him. People just love to peg him with it.
You're too young to understand.
You're still young. You'll grow in time.
Et cetera.
They think that just because he's younger than them, he doesn't know. But he does.
Two hundred thirty-five years isn't a long time in a nation's perspective. Alfred knows just how young he is in comparison to some of his fellows.
That doesn't mean he can't understand.
Life isn't easy for anyone and especially not for a nation. This is a given fact. What Alfred doesn't understand is what's so wrong about going through it with a smile on his face. He knows hardship, he knows that sometimes things suck, and he knows just how bad they can get.
That doesn't mean he has to be all doom and gloom about it.
Optimism isn't the easiest thing to maintain, but he does his best. After all, a positive atmosphere is what everyone needs. A hero has to understand the hardship that others go through, but he also has to try to make things easier for them. And he's figured out that the best way to do so is to be happy, even when he doesn't particularly feel like it. Cheerlessness won't help anyone.
And even though it means the words 'naive' and 'too young' are often whispered behind his back, Alfred keeps it up. He also knows that it does the older ones some good, no matter how much they grumble.
He thinks that maybe they need to know there's a seed of youth that can still be as optimistic as he is.
Because of this, Alfred F. Jones goes through life with a smile on his face.
He's such an adorable muffin when he gets thoughtful.
Alfred is a character that just fascinates me. There are many different directions one can take with his personality, and this is just one of them. In a way, he is naive and young. In fact, he's like the epitome of youth. But he's definitely a lot smarter than he seems, and to me, there's a reasoning behind his optimism.