"I am and always will be the optimist, the hoper of far-flung hopes, the dreamer of improbable dreams." This lovely quote can be attributed to the equally lovely eleventh doctor of the "Doctor Who" series played by Matt Smith. This quote is one that I really enjoy and feel a strong relation to. I am an optimist. Always have been, and most likely always will be.
However, while the optimistic part of me still reigns supreme, I have found myself becoming more and more of a realist. See, now the difference between the two is that the optimist often looks brightly upon the world, raising it to a near impossible level of greatness. Realists on the other hand tend to look at the world the way it is: not great, but not that bad either. The problem with being a realist though, is that when the world is behaving badly, acknowledging it can lead to people viewing you as a cynic.
When did realism become a synonym for cynicism? Why are people made to feel bad when they look at life with nothing but their eyes? I find this extremely irritating because often people who shame realists are guilty of being pessimists.
People view the world in different ways. Some are glass half full, some are glass half empty, and some just see a glass containing water. And, obviously, these views can change. Personally, sometimes I have really bad days containing one unfortunate thing after another and I think something along the lines of "the world sucks" even though I know this is an exaggeration.
There are different advantages to the three opposing world views of optimism, pessimism, and realism. The advantage of being a pessimist is that they aren't often disappointed with the world when it hands them a bad day. The advantage of being an optimist is that their hearts are full of rainbows and pixie dust and the world before them is full of sunshine on the cloudiest day. The advantage of being a realist is that they're never surprised. The world is the way it is. People aren't perfect, but they're not terrible (generally speaking).
There are also disadvantages to the three views. A disadvantage to being a pessimist would be that their heats are full of gray goo and it takes a lot for them to see the beauty of the world (again, generally speaking). A disadvantage of being a realist is that they're never surprised. Yep. The disadvantage is the same as the advantage. This is because sometimes surprises are nice. Sometimes it's good when the world acts out of character. And a disadvantage of being an optimist, and this one is my personal fatal flaw, is that they see buckets of good in everyone. This can prove to be a problem, especially because a lot of times that goodness just isn't there.
There's good and bad in everyone, good and bad in everyone's views. No one is perfect, no one is pure evil. The world is the way it is and people don't often change their views whether positive, negative, or realistic. Let people see the world the way they want to and don't be afraid to merge the three views into one.
