Optimism and Pessimism are both dangerous

Many people like to consider themselves optimists, or pessimists. They see the glass as either half-full or half-empty, and can't see the other side. Personally, I think both are stupid. Life is neither completely fantastic, nor completely shit, and to think that it is either is to see the world through an unrealistic skew that distorts reality. Both of these ideologies are dangerous.

Excessive optimism forces one to live with their head in the clouds, with no real understanding of what's going on in the world. There are a lot of problems that have to be dealt with, and despite what some people might have you believe, ignoring problems and pretending that they aren't there (ever seen "The Secret"?) WILL NOT make them go away. Ask my parents. They ignored their problems and because of it their marriage fell apart.

Now, that said, there is still a lot of beauty in the world. From wonderful things like love and good friends to the simplest of things like appreciating the changing colours of leaves on a tree in fall, or a beautiful fresh snowfall, or the way that a cloud can look like a puppy. Excessive pessimism blinds you to these things, and makes you believe that everything is shit. This is just as false as the previous point.

Every event has a positive and negative aspect to it, no matter how much one seems to outweigh the other. For example, if not for the second world war, many of the technological advances of the fifties would not have come about, including microwaves. Does that mean that the holocaust was a good thing? Of course not. It did, however, lead to some positive things. Most situations are not so extreme, however, and the advantages/disadvantages are not always so clear. It is important to recognize the positive aspects of a negative situation, and vice versa, but it is also okay to think that a situation really sucks, or is really good, because sometimes they are.

I, for example, am not an optimistic person. I am, however, positive. I do my best to see the good in everything, but it isn't always easy. I feel negatively about things sometimes, but in general I like to think that many things that happen are good things.

In conclusion, positivity and negativity are great. It helps to rationally see a situation, and recognize the nagativity of it while appreciating the positivity. Optimism/pessimism is for people with unrealistic world-views, and can lead to personal catastrophe.