Optimists Have More Fun

Read these words and try to determine their source.

"Our earth is degenerate in these latter days.  Bribery and corruption are common.  Children no longer obey their parents.  The end of the world is evidently approaching."

Were they spoken by members of the political left or the right?  Were they heard on CNN, NPR, Fox news or as part of an End-of-the-world-Mayan-calendar-2012 blog?  Before I answer that, I'd like to say something about the philosophy of pessimism, which is a wonderful philosophy for those who wish to never be wrong without exertion.  Anyone with a penchant for cynicism can look at a project, an organization or even a civilization and say, "it'll fail."  Then, all they must do to apply their philosophy is sit back and wait.  Any apparent success is just further fodder for a belief in failure, as, "The higher they fly, the further they fall."

Most of the people I know are not pessimists.  Anyone who would donate to a church or engage in bettering a community through volunteerism must have some belief that their actions can create a positive result.  A pessimist would look at any such effort and consider it doomed.  As Chesterton said, such a person is someone who "thinks that everything is bad, except himself."

Optimists are not starry-eyed dreamers who believe, with Candide, that "it's all for the best in the best of all possible worlds."  Rather, an optimist believes that his (and his society's) endeavors will go well  - because he's willing to do something to make them go well.

Optimism does have a cost - it requires action.  However, a true optimist is willing to pay that cost in the interest of getting the show on the road.  By contrast, there is no cost for being a pessimist.  It's a very comfortable position to adopt, as in the end, one can always claim he was right.

The above quote was not spat by Rush, cooed by NPR or chanted by Occupy Wall Street.  Rather, it was inscribed on a gravestone in 2800 BC.