A Hopeless Case Of Optimism?

Today I want to share with you an experience I have been having over the past couple of days. As funny as this may sound, I have been in a somewhat heated debate with a young lady on a status comment thread on FaceBook. The real funny thing is, it wasn't even one of her status updates. As a matter of fact, it was her brothers status update that started the whole thing.

Her brother had posted something about how working hard and believing will take you far in life and how many people are not believers and he wrapped it up by saying..."I'M GONNA BELIEVE". I thought the post was exceptional. Especially coming from this young man. It actually excited me to see him stand up for what he believed and scream it from the mountain top for everyone on FaceBook to see. So much so that I was moved to comment on such a bold statement. So my comment said simply..."Anything you TRULY believe is truth. Ponder that for a minute. Go go go!". The purpose of the comment really was just to support his new found philosophy. To encourage him to continue thinking in a positive way. Little did I know, the Optimist vs. Pessimist war was about to begin. lol

The next comment on this thread came from his very own sister. She opened it with..."I remember when Bill (me) used to be cool" and went on to commend her brother for such a great post and she would "KEEP IT IN MIND". Needless to say, I was a little offended and I told her so on my next comment. I mean come on, what is uncool about supporting someone's belief? Hello! This is your brother! I didn't say all that. All I said was, I am offended and have a great day. Here is where things got fun.

She replied for me not to be offended but half of what I say doesn't even make sense. Her explanation to follow said that just because someone believed they could fly doesn't make it true. I find that to be fair. A good argument, if your a pessimist. Now don't get me wrong, I am in NO WAY saying that if you put on a cape (to steal from her example) and truly believe you can fly, that you should jump off of a building to see if that theory holds water or not. It most likely will not work out in your favor. But aren't are own personal truths, the things that we perceive as true, based on the things that we believe? Or is our beliefs based on the things the we perceive as true? Either way, they absolutely, positively coincide with one another. I mean, come on, have you ever told a little white lie about something you did or experienced and you told it so much and for so long, that in your life and your mind it was true? Have you ever been told by so many people that you couldn't do something but your belief was different and you did it in spite of their belief. I think Henry Ford said it best when he said..."A man that believes he can and a man that believes he can't are both right". Imagine what our world would be like if we were all pessimists and no one ever believed in the unbelievable. We wouldn't have electricity, airplanes, cars, televisions or the internet. These were all far fetched ideas in the beginning that most people (pessimists) objected to. But it was the believers, the optimists, that prevailed in the end. I'm just saying.

Sorry, got on a little bit of a rampage there. So on with the story. After defending my side with basically what I just stated above, she replied to inform me that she now understands but it still doesn't mean that someone with a cape can fly. She also informed me of her Psychology "Major" (I don't know if that meant she has a degree in it or not. lol) This next statement made me literally laugh out load. She said, and I quote..."You have a hopeless case of optimism". What does that mean? Is that a documented condition? Can I get a prescription for that or should I use an over the counter cream? WOW!

So anyway, the whole thing got me thinking. Optimist vs. Pessimist? Positive vs. Negative? I don't think either one is right or wrong. As a matter of fact, you can't have one without the other. It's the challenge that pessimists provide that creates success when optimists do it anyway. If nobody thought it was impossible, how would we know it was a great accomplishment? I appreciate the views and values and truths and beliefs of others but, just like everyone else, I have my own personal beliefs and truths. I choose to be a positive, optimistic person and I stand fast that we are only limited by our own thoughts. What do you think?