I have come across a great many pessimists in my life. They seem to have an answer to EVERYTHING, but the catch is that it's always negative. On the surface they seem to be people who are incredibly bothered and do not have hope for anything good. The thought that just came into my mind is... what if they are actually more hopeful than the rest of us?
They doubt almost everything that happens, but the question is: why? The answer that I could most clearly think of is that because they are always hoping that they are wrong. It goes down to the idea that if you hope for the worst, you will never be disappointed. In the end of the day it's much harder to actually HOPE for the WORST since the phrase is a complete oxymoron in and of itself. How much can one really hope that things end up badly? Since when does hope have such a negative connotation? This is why I think that those of you who have a "pessimistic" view on life, just need to realize your capability of hoping. Instead use hope to your advantage and to grow rather than to hold yourself back from exploring possibilities that you never knew existed. The world is a place for us to grow as human beings, so if we are people who can hope but hope for the worst, aren't we just holding ourselves back rather than causing any real change in the world? Doesn't hoping for the worst in the ordeals of others, make that same individual hope for a lack of progress in their own lives?
Man mister Sean, your language is too hard for me!! I really need to improve my english.
ReplyDeleteBut what I really want to say is I think pessimists are just... weak. To me they don't hope for the worst, they are afraid to hope. Optimists are encouraging because they believe in themselves, they work for what they believe in and they try to help others believe. They have the power and mind set to change and build their own future, whereas pessimists blames everything on everyone else and refuses to try and make a difference. I think pessimists might even take things for granted too much and that is why nothing ever seems to be good enough, and thats why they think it won't help to try.
I hope you understand this, I was trying my best not to think in Chinese .
I agree with you amy. My bigger question is really why people choose this mindset. I was thinking about it and its interesting how people are willing to accept the negative things in life. If you look even in history, the people who have had the most detrimental and "negative" affect on the world, saw it in a positive light during their period of change. I just wonder why is it that as humans, some of choose to go off into a positive thought process and others into a negative one. From my standpoint there is nothing appealing about having negatively charged views, but in the end of the day everyone is their own person, so I guess I can't say that I know whats going on in their heads. If I had room to judge a pessimist I might also say that they are weak, but again, weakness is a very relative term, and when it comes down to relativity, the way a pessimist may see the term "weakness" may be completely the opposite, or different, from what you or I may see it as.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with some of the things that you said here. For example, "They doubt almost everything that happens." I don't believe that pessimists are doubtful of any of the things that they believe. If an earthquake happens does the probability that it results in something good is slim to none. Does this make me a pessimist or realistic? I'm doubtful of anything good coming out of it cause in the past nothing good has come out of it. Sure the survivors get donations and the hearts of fellow human beings but that does not contradict the fact that the results of an earthquake is disaster and heartbreak. You may think this is a pessimistic thought but I consider it fact. You can't live life believing what Leibniz believed to be true: this world is the best of all possible worlds. It simply is not and there are imperfections. Even from a religious point of view: Did Eve not eat the forbidden fruit? Does this make God an, omniscience being, a pessimist due to the fact that he knew that someone would eventually betray him by eating the fruit? I don't think so... its just a unquestionable, undoubting fact that bad things happen. People are not perfect and this world isn't perfect so its illogically to expect the bright side all the time. I personally think that at the end of the day it's not at all hard to "hope" the worst (its hard to use the word hope here... considering its definition). I personally think I'm a bit pessimistic sometimes but thats just due to life experiences. Sometimes I feel like I'm a realist... I don't think its possible to consider myself an optimist. I highly recommend you reading Voltaires Candide, a satire of the optimistic view of this being the most perfect of all possible worlds. By the end of the story the protagonist realizes his falseness in believing that optimistic thoughts are realistic. Furthermore, "hoping" for the worst does not mean expecting a lack of progress... Did Adam and Eve not progress after their fall?
ReplyDeleteI'm curious about your thoughts on optimism. Do you think its just as bad? Isn't it just as much a sign of weakness?
What happened to my comment! Lol
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