The Optimist And The Pessimist

Pessimism: Every Dark Cloud Has A Silver Lining, But Lightning Kills Hundreds Of People Each Year Who Are Trying To Find It.

Optimism: At Least It Isn't Lava

There's an ever present battle between these two 'forces'. The optimist often sees himself/herself as a role model, a bright light in a dark room, a realist. The pessimist however, spites the optimist, stating that he or she has a myopic view of the world, while they, themselves are 'pure' realists. One often overlooks the fact that the optimist and pessimist sit on either side of the same coin. To continue the metaphor, I'd like to call the coin itself realist. Pessimism and optimism, on their own, are not logical states of mind at all. Optimism and pessimism are merely 'faces' of the realist; they are merely the realist's tools. One can look at a dreary situation with rigid, self-fulfilling pessimism, then become a 'deluded' optimist and see only potential. A realist, in my opinion, would be completely indifferent and/or neutral to the situation. A realist tries to look at a situation with eyes devoid of emotion and judgment, while the optimist and pessimist look through human eyes (being disgusted by people's morality, frailties, stupidity etc. etc. — all very much human criticisms.) Indifference is the core quality of realism, while human judgment allows for the existence of the pessimist and optimist. The more I think about it, the more I feel that this is largely an issue of semantics.