It’s funny, I was listening to some NPR interviews with people who like to hear themselves talk, and they were going on about how “Hope alone isn’t going to be good enough” and “Sure – Change will be good, but there’s so many expectations now that there will soon be an inevitable period of utter disappointment because there’s no way for him to live up to them” and it just made me A) annoyed at people who always want the glass 1/2 empty, B) annoyed at people who, to seem smart, love to contradict anything the “majority” embraces, C) annoyed at smug people who love to discuss “The Average American” in terms of how gullible and uneducated they are. (Yep, for those of you counting, I was annoyed x3!)
Don’t get me wrong, I love NPR. A lot! However, these “experts” on this particular panel seemed to enjoy being the doomsayers, the “Abandon all hope ye who enter here” bellringers who wanted to just help us all realize that “optimism is fine, but don’t expect your lives to get better cuz the world sucks”. That really rubbed me the wrong way.
I’m hopeful. I’m gonna stay that way. What’s the point of being anything else? I’m not a Pollyanna, I understand the complexity and difficulties ahead of us as individuals and as a country. However, wallowing will not solve anything, ever. Hopeful, and eager to work for the betterment of my situation – I’ve tried to embrace that attitude for years, and Obama’s election will only bolster my determination!
So – Hope. 4 out of 5 Artistic Directors agree, it’s a good thing.*
*this statistic is entirely fictional
Tony Caselli 
As I was saying to someone else yesterday, they’re forgetting that things like the stock market is driven by confidence or the lack of. A frightened person will very often not do the things that need doing to get out of a bad situation. I think there is a lot that can be done with hope. And being hopeful doesn’t mean you’ve suddenly developed a hole in your head.
These commentators sound like if you mentioned the sunny day outside, they’d point out how there’s a 40% chance of rain, and maybe you just shouldn’t go outside at all.
You know, as for NPR in general, it is good, but I do find it tends to be the collection of all that’s going wrong in the world, listing to the news programs. Sometimes I have to turn it off and just get on with life. It is information we need to know, but geeze, a little balance? You need to count your blessings once in a while or you might as well go in the backyard with the shotgun, you know?
*nods and applauds*
Well said!!
Definitely voting for hope
I believe in life that when faced with two choices, the most rewarding will often be the one that requires the most courage. Hope requires far more courage than pessimism, in part because hope demands that we help to fulfill it whereas pessimism is most successful when we do nothing.
I want to always have a bit of Miranda in me when I look about me–I want to believe that I live in a brave, new world peopled with those who can create miracles.
Re: Definitely voting for hope
That’s a great way of looking at it – pessimism is easier. That’s sad but true!