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Gifts for all occasions in the Galleria! The "What is the Deal?" Deal-of-the-Week: Please donate to the Salvation Army for hurricane relief. October 16, 2005 Pervasive Pessimism By Jan A. Larson I am an optimist by nature and I would like to believe that most people are as well. It is the possibility that the future can be better than the present that motivates optimists in their day-to-day lives. Tomorrow will be better than today and the next day will be better still. Optimists are generally happy people find the best in every situation. Optimists turn lemons into lemonade, to quote an old adage. Pessimists, on the other hand, only see the lemons and don't like lemonade. The future for pessimists only promises anguish and despair. The day-to-day lives of pessimists are exercises in drudgery and futility. Why make the most of today when tomorrow will just be worse? Pessimists are not happy and can't find a reason to be happy. If a pessimist were actually happy, he or she would undoubtedly look for a reason to make that feeling go away. A quick scan of recent headlines, however, shows that the pessimists' fears of the future might be coming true:
Hurricane Katrina, Tom DeLay, gas prices, California fires, mortgage rates, consumer prices, taxes. The bad news goes on and on and on and on. One long-time friend and colleague of mine no longer watches the news or reads a paper because "there is nothing but bad news." The pessimists must love the media. Or, could it be that the media are simply pessimists preaching to their choir? Liberals are pessimistic and liberals dominate the media. Ask any left-winger about America's future and you'll get a tale of gloom and doom worthy of Friday Night Fright Night. George W. Bush and his rich friends took the country to war over oil. The Patriot Act will turn America into a police state. Tax cuts steal money from the poor to line the pockets of the rich. The New Orleans levees were blown up to kill blacks. The pessimism of the left also explains why there are no ideas for solutions to problems coming from Democrats. Sure they are good at criticizing (the nature of pessimism) but when it comes to looking to the future and making the future better, what's the point? Admittedly, it is hard to be optimistic in the face of the non-stop bombardment of bad news. I believe it is this cacophony of pessimism that is sinking the President's approval ratings. Not that the President has any control over earthquakes and hurricanes (although some apparently believe he does), but in the absence of in-depth analysis, it is natural for the less well-informed to make the link from "bad news" to "the buck stops here" to "I think the President is doing a bad job." However, there are many reasons for optimism today. The Iraqi constitutional election was completed with a large voter turnout and little violence. The American economy is strong. Interest rates and unemployment are low by historical standards and the 2005 federal budget deficit was lower than expected, just 2.6% of GDP. Americans also demonstrated their true character in the outpouring of support for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Since September 11, 2001, the threat of terrorism had long hung over America but had largely been ignored, has been on the minds of many on a daily basis. I must admit that my outlook for the future took a significant hit that day and I am still troubled by the way that day changed all of our lives. It is easy to fall into despair as that day is recalled and as the news on a daily basis consists of little more than bad news piled upon bad news. The pessimist can only wring his or her hands and wonder how bad it can get. The optimist, on the other hand, will take a look at the country and the world today and see the good things that are happening and, more importantly, while the pessimist will wonder why he or she should get out of bed in the morning, the optimist will go to work to make good things happen. To paraphrase Dean Wormer from the movie Animal House, "Critical, lazy and pessimistic is no way to go through life, son." -- Send feedback to the author. The "What is the Deal?" column will appears weekly on the Pie of Knowledge website. Guest submissions are welcome and encouraged. To submit an article to "What is the Deal?" click here. To subscribe to the "What is the Deal?" mailing list and receive early notification when a new column is available, click here. The Pie of Knowledge will never, ever divulge email addresses to any third party for any reason unless so ordered by a court of law. Contributions to the Pie of Knowledge are greatly appreciated. 
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