I’m a pessimistic optimist

I’ve been watching both the Republican and Democratic conventions.   The first thing that pops up is the tone of each.   The Democratic convention has, for the most part, been optimistic.   President Obama detailed everything he had done to help make this a better country and speaker after speaker (when they weren’t castigating Donald Trump) talked with great optimism about what Hillary Clinton would do for all the disenfranchised groups which comprise the Democratic party.

The Republicans on the other hand were the party of pessimism.  The country’s gone to hell and only Donald Trump can bring it back to its glory days.  Crime, corrupt politicians and terrorist threats emanated from every pore of every speech.  And Hillary Clinton would just make things worse.

It appears that Americans live in two different worlds – – depending on which group you belong to.

I hang out with friends who are pessimists.  They agree that the world has gone to hell – – but they go even further.   Several of them are conspiracy theorists.   They believe that some world cataclysm is about to happen.  They’re not quite sure what it will be.   If could be government declaring martial law.  It could be the big banks taking control of our monetary system.

They think that big pharmacy is about to unleash a new plague on the country and the only drug that can cure it, is one they own.   Sometimes they think a small cabal of men in Europe are plotting to take control of the world.

When all of that fails, these pessimists of mine –  these conspiracy theorists, blame aliens (from out of this world) or the wrath of a supreme being.

They’re lucky in a way.   Being a pessimist is easy.  Everything that happens is out of your control and you can’t do anything about it.   All you can do is protect yourself and your family.

Being a pessimist is easy.  Being an optimist is hard.

An optimist has to look at the big picture.   He doesn’t ignore the problems of the world.   he has to help come up with a solution to the problem – – and that’s difficult.

An optimist may not always believe that things will get better – – but he believes that people are resilient and can overcome or adapt.

An optimist knows that the human animal is an adaptable creature.   Over the centuries of this country, we’ve been forced to adapt to changing times –  several times in the past.

It’s hard to be an optimist because you have to come up with solutions to our problems.

It’s easy to be a pessimist because everything is out of your control.   All you have to do is take care of yourself.

Sometimes its tempting to be a pessimist.