I've been told I'm not a very optimistic person. In fact, people have down right called me a pessimist. I have never really seen myself as a "glass half empty" kind of person, but I suppose that is really because my thoughts are rather neutral when it comes to things like how full a beverage container is. I suppose that that this image I seem to have may come from my semi-dark thoughts. I try not to get my hopes up about things, especially things that have high returns, that way, if things don't work out, I'm not disappointed. I don't even know why my mind works like this. It isn't like some of those love stories around, where people are afraid to fall in love because they don't want to have their heart broken again. AGAIN. I can't remember ever being so disappointed that I'm unwilling to do something, so doesn't seem to be the reason for my pessimism. As I write this, I am thinking of my parents, and I just decided that my pessimism must be inherited. Especially my mom and grandma. I grew up hearing things like "Life's not perfect," "not everyone gets to do what they want for a living," and "I think you should start being realistic about your goals." Nothing says "work hard, strive for your best, push yourself" then someone telling you to set goals that you can actually achieve. Looking at things this way, I can be pretty certain that's where all this negativism came from.
That being said, I am trying to be optimistic about the president-elect. I admit, I did not cast a ballot for him. A lot of his ideas and plans are so radical they scare me, and I'm surprised that so many people, educated people even, seemed to over look these things. And here is a case of my pessimism for the country. I am afraid that people have such high expectations for the man, that there is no way he can meet them. America can only be disappointed this way. But, seriously, I will try to keep an open mind about him. People should stand behind their leader, no matter who it is.
"I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake." -Robert Louis Stevenson
3 comments:
There is nothing wrong about having goals. I understand that goals should be reasonable and obtainable within a reasonable time. If a goal is failed to be met, then hit the reset button. "Why was it a failure and what was the lesson learned?" Is this a pessimistic view? I don't believe so, why? This sort of plan is reasonable, one-step-at-time towards an overall objective and a simple plan keeps the overall objective from becoming daunting. With the right motivation nothing is impossible--just look at Obama, like him or not (and I really don't) his story is an 'only in America' story.
Faith in God, and His plan goes miles, too. For each door that closes, others will open. God will always provide another way.
I know I give you grief about being a pessimist, but I don't exactly know if it is true. You are not optimistic in the fact that you don't get lost in idealism or are happy and spunky all the time. At the same time, you have big dreams. You love to think beyond what you know. You don't settle for what some people say you should settle for, but you want more for yourself. That doesn't sound pessimistic to me. Last I checked, your quote on facebook had something to do with dreaming. If anything, you are a realist. Or, perhaps a hesitant optimist beneath a facade of pessimism? Could we call that a closet-optimist?
Anyway, although I am a Obama supporter (except for that brief period where your comments on third parties made me panic about who I was going to vote for), I agree with a lot of what you say. I've spoken to a lot of people who treat Obama's win as a cure for everything. They assume that the US will automatically fix itself. I don't agree with that. I'm excited about several things that Obama has promoted (progressive tax reform, universal health care, and a different approach to foreign affairs), but I don't think that Obama is the answer to everything. It's a step in the right direction for me. I was talking to my boss about it yesterday and I decided that my attitude is best described as "cautiously optimistic." But there is so much work that needs to be done--it's going to take a long time to fix what needs to be fixed.
P.S. I told myself that my comment wasn't going to have anything to do with politics and look what happened. *grins sheepishly*
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