The Optimism of Uncertainty
"In this awful world where the efforts of caring people often pale in comparison to what is done by those who have power, how do I manage to stay involved and seemingly happy?
I am totally confident not that the world will get better, but that we should not give up the game before all the cards have been played. The metaphor is deliberate; life is a gamble. Not to play is to foreclose any chance of winning. To play, to act, is to create at least a possibility of changing the world.
There is a tendency to think that what we see in the present moment will continue. We forget how often we have been astonished by the sudden crumbling of institutions, by extraordinary changes in people’s thoughts, by unexpected eruptions of rebellion against tyrannies, by the quick collapse of systems of power that seemed invincible…
An optimist isn’t necessarily a blithe, slightly sappy whistler in the dark of our time. To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places–and there are so many–where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory."
By Howard Zinn, "The Optimis of Uncertainty", adapted from "The Impossible Will Take a Little While."
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Life, in general, is unfair. I believe most of you would agree. In many of us, more often times than not, we have the perceptibility of everyday life as full of wretchedness, privation and peccancy. Just turn on the news and you will see visions of it anywhere. I can’t blame anyone to be so cynical. It seems all hope is lost, and it is rather depressing.
On the other hand, I still think that being optimistic in times like these — actually not just this time, but any other given time — is a vital tool to our survival. Some people think that optimism is unrealistic. I don’t necessarily accede. I know it sounds like an old cliche but "what it seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise" (Oscar Wilde). In the midst of all the pain that we have known and the suffering that we have experienced, may we have all the strength to walk through life facing each new situation with courage and optimism. So…
smile when it hurts the most. ^_^
"Between the optimist and the pessimist, the difference is droll. The optimist sees the doughnut; the pessimist the hole." — Oscar Wilde quotes.
