Optimism isn't naive – pessimism is just the easy option

Pessimism is the prevalent trend in society. Reading the news, you’d get the impression that to be optimistic is to be blissfully ignorant, unaware of the world’s problems. Pessimism has an allure – it’s enlightened, intelligent. It has become a virtue to extol how screwed up everything is these days.

To me though, that’s understanding without care. The pessimists recognise the problems, but either can’t think of solutions or believe that pointing out the issues will be easier and more profitable than working on one. Pessimism is a selfish act in that sense – a chance to show how smart you are without putting your neck on the line with any ideas of your own.

The world needs more optimists, and I believe care is an act of optimism. To care about what you do is to believe it’s worth doing right, even if it might be more immediately profitable to cut corners or take the easy route. You can take the extra time to plant seeds for the long term, because you don’t need to squeeze every drop of return you can now – down the line, the resulting tree will be of greater benefit to both you and the wider world.

i saw a nice blog post about optimism and wanted to share.