I am a pessimist.
Not just any pessimist-I am the ultimate pessimist. I am the pessimist to end all pessimists. I like to think that my pessimism enables me to either always be right or pleasantly surprised with various outcomes in my life.
And unfortunately, that is the current mood many people have taken on. With the recent racial affairs, terror attacks, and widespread death around the world, it is easier to take the pessimistic route and just accept defeat. I believe many people have accepted defeat, turned in their battle armor, and seceded to pessimism.
And because of that, a positive, optimistic outlook is rare.
It is a sign of rebellion against the realm of pessimism that has ensnared the world.
To look at the destruction, hate, pain, suffering, and despair this world is experiencing and somehow still seeing the beauty, love, hope, peace, and humanity in it is a wonderful and dangerous thing. It is often viewed as ignorant or wildly arrogant. People who choose to remain happy are shot down. Because why see the value and see the wonder of what is left of this world when we can continue to focus on what we've lost?
Because that's what we've come to.
We focus continuously on what has changed in the last few years, playing the blame game and trying to see where we went wrong. The truth is, we went wrong when we stopped being optimistic, when we stopped looking for the best outcome and just hoping for anything but the worst.
We went wrong so long ago, and now, with a world filled to the brim with hatred and contempt, we can finally try start to go back.
Perhaps the rebellion will take root and spread.
It won't be easy-changing years of ingrained loathing and detestation for anything out of our realm of normality- but I believe that with some superhuman effort, we can. It will involve giving up age old ideals, giving up our segregationist beliefs, and giving up the preconceived notion that we as a nation stand high above. We don't. We need to start accepting that we are just regular old human beings, no better than the rest of the world, and that we need to change. It all starts there: recognizing the change.
We need to drop our pessimism and pick up some optimism.
It's a lovely notion, isn't it?
