{"id":2425,"date":"2017-08-30T16:39:45","date_gmt":"2017-08-30T22:39:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.pelicanbookgroup.com\/?p=2425"},"modified":"2025-05-21T11:43:07","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T17:43:07","slug":"pessimist-realist-or-optimist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/pessimist-realist-or-optimist\/","title":{"rendered":"Pessimist, Realist or Optimist?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pessimist, realist or optimist? I\u2019m a realist, but in today\u2019s world, realist can sound a lot like pessimist. Have you watched the news lately? People stink. That\u2019s the truth, not pessimism. People are self-centered, \"\"arrogant, ignorant, unfeeling, have a skewed moral compass that steers more towards moral-less than moral-more. Free-thinking has turned into mob-mentality. And people are so ignorant, these \u201cfree thinkers\u201d\u2014blindly following the mob without checking out the truth for themselves\u2014think they are leaders when in fact they are followers. The worst kind of followers: the blind and ignorant kind. Lemmings, scurrying around with their cliquey groups, blind to anything around that might pull them out of the clique, especially if that \u201cthing\u201d is the truth or any other thing they don\u2019t really want to hear. Better to drown with the bunch than to stand for what\u2019s right, just, merciful and lovely. Evidently, it\u2019s so easy to be blinded by what we want to hear than it is to be upright.<\/p>\n

Then again, this is nothing new. There have always been people who care more about money, power, popularity, etc. than they care about loyalty, justice, mercy, and love. Sometimes, it doesn\u2019t matter what you do for a person, how much loyalty or love you show them, they will cut and run when it suits or stab you in the back to get ahead or act as if you\u2019re the bad guy when they actually know better or [name your injury here]. The grass is always greener, and green is a strong, attractive colour. That\u2019s the realistic truth. That\u2019s not pessimism. My own experience with people confirms it. Unfortunately. I\u2019d so much rather think it was merely pessimism, because that would mean the problem was with my own thinking, my own opinion, which I could then change in a heartbeat.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the thing. The truth. There also are people in the world who do care about being upright, who do care about justice and mercy, loyalty and love. Oftentimes, they don\u2019t get media attention. They don\u2019t get flocks of followers or thousands of friends. They don\u2019t always have Benjamin-lined pockets, and sometimes you never hear about who they are. But they are there. The salt of the Earth. The secret pillars who take the hits with Christ-like silence (or maybe with Christ-like, not-so-silent, calling-out-the-money-changers vigour.) They are out there, doing what they can do. Praying. Offering hope within their sphere of influence. Living truth and justice and mercy and charity however they can. Spreading goodness regardless of the response they receive in return.<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s another truth: Most people fall somewhere between those two extremes, wanting to be the latter, sometimes falling into the former. And most people are weak, on either extreme. Judas: weak. Peter: weak. Strength is found in what we do once we figure out we\u2019re weak. And character is shown when we choose to do the right thing even though we\u2019re weak. Judas: characterless. Peter: characterful.<\/p>\n

What are we to do with that? As a realist, I try not to be pessimistic; there is good in the world, after all. As a realist, I\u2019m rarely optimistic, but choose \u201coptimistic caution\u201d instead. Why? Because\u2026well, because people stink. They will take and never give. They will lie, cheat, and steal. They will kiss you on the cheek as they lead the enemy to your door. So, I remain optimistically cautious, believing that everyone has the potential to be good, but not being too surprised when 99% of them prove otherwise.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a pessimist:<\/h4>\n

Take heart. With the state of the world today, you\u2019re already almost a realist! Just nudge yourself the extra bit. Quit listening to negativity. Seek the good in people, in the world. If someone in your personal sphere lets you down, check yourself. If you caused the behaviour, amend yourself. If you didn\u2019t cause it, forget about it. You can\u2019t control how other people think, what they say, or how they will act or react.<\/p>\n

When worried about the state of the world, if you\u2019re in a position to help better things, then do. If you\u2019re not, quit \u201cworrying\u201d about it (not the same as \u201cforget about it\u201d). Fretting over things you can\u2019t control doesn\u2019t hurt anyone but yourself. The only person going insane is you. The people who\u2019ve done you wrong are not sitting around thinking about how much their action hurt you. If they were, they wouldn\u2019t have done it in the first place\u2014or they\u2019d be apologizing and not doing it again. So, don\u2019t let those very same people consume your thoughts or control your actions and reactions. School your thoughts. Get rid of terms like \u201calways\u201d and \u201ceverything\u201d and \u201cnothing\u201d. \u00a0Balance and honesty are the keys to realism. Nothing is always and everything is only sometimes.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I often see authors get so upset over a bad review. They are tough to take\u2014the bad reviews, that is, not the authors. (And that\u2019s all I\u2019m going to say about that!)\u2014But, right next to those one-stars are two-stars, three-stars, four-stars and five-stars. Reading is subjective. Can\u2019t please all the readers all the time. Somehow, though, a single one-star review has more importance and impact than ten five-star reviews. Why? Because we all want to be loved and praised and accepted.<\/span> That\u2019s human nature. Correction: That\u2019s divine nature. God is love. Our Creator endowed in us a nature born of love and companionship and goodness. We are like God. Made in His image, we should be full of love\u2014for ourselves and our fellow man. We crave love because we crave Him (regardless of whether we acknowledge that craving or Him.) So, when we experience rejection, it hits harder than when we\u2019re embraced. That\u2019s why when we see so much evil and hatred and strife in our communities, in the world, it\u2019s easy to become pessimistic. Fight the urge, dear pessimists. There were eleven faithful apostles and one Judas. Let the five-stars shine! Life, like reading, is subjective. (Although, right and wrong are not.)<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a realist:<\/h4>\n

Try to be more optimistic and less \u201coptimistically cautious.\u201d Better to have loved and lost, and all that. When people let you down, let them go. If they come back, treat them justly or mercifully or a little bit of both\u2014whatever the situation demands. If they don\u2019t come back, life goes on, right? You\u2019re a realist: If you love something, set if free. If you don\u2019t love it, definitely set it free!<\/p>\n

When the world looks as if it\u2019s going to hell in a hand-basket, acknowledge that it is and then find some optimists to help cheer you. Focus on the good while you recharge. After all, if you claim to be a realist, you can\u2019t fall into pessimism; if you do, and you keep calling yourself a realist, then you\u2019re actually not a realist, but rather a pessimistic liar.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re an optimist:<\/h4>\n

What the heck? Have you seen the news, lately? … Seriously, keep seeing the positive. Spread it around like melted butter over a hot croissant fresh from the best patisserie in Paris. Or, if that\u2019s too dairy for you, then sprinkle it like a spring rain over the hot desert landscape.<\/p>\n

When you do get a dose of realism, don\u2019t ignore it because\u2026well, because it\u2019s good to be realistic, but be \u201coptimistically realistic.\u201d When you encounter pessimism, be annoyingly optimistic. Pessimists need that.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

No matter whether you are a pessimist, realist or optimist, \u201cbe perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.\u201d (recommended reading: Matthew 5)<\/p>\n

So what are you? Pessimist, Realist or Optimist?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And here\u2019s another truth: Most people fall somewhere between those two extremes, wanting to be the latter, sometimes falling into the former. And most people are weak, on either extreme. Judas: weak. Peter: weak. Strength is found in what we do once we figure out we\u2019re weak. And character is shown when we choose to do the right thing even though we\u2019re weak. Judas: characterless. Peter: characterful.<\/p>\n

What are we to do with that? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[509,513],"tags":[97,736,735],"class_list":["post-2425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration-spirituality","category-misc-musings","tag-inspiration","tag-op-ed","tag-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}