The categories of optimism and pessimism don't exist.Optimism is a secular construct -- a calculation of probability. Better to be instead, a prisoner of hope. Hope wrestles with despair without generating optimism. Hope gives people the courage to "bear witness" and "see what the end is going to be." There is no calculation with hope. When we embrace it, we commit ourselves, without any guarantees, to a better tomorrow. -Cornell West
This is the paraphrased quote expressed by Cornell West as reported in the 40th anniversary edition of Rolling Stone Magazine. That was last December but given the extraordinary and wonderful things that have happened this year -- from the presidential election to the tumbeling of high gas prices, becoming a prisoner of hope remains a powerful idea worth repeating.
Embrace hope.
Most of the time we weigh the odds in a situation and then make a decision to be optimistic. Do I have enough gas? Will I make it home? Can I close this deal? Will I beat this deadline? Can I get this job, promotion, house etc...
We calculate all the variables we can think of in our mind. We check the gauges, run through the probable scenarios and settle on the one we want to happen based on the facts we think we know. And generally, this approach works.
We choose to be optimistic because we can calculate a positive outcome.
But what happens when the variables are too fluid? What happens when we can't wrap our minds around the possible positive outcomes? Am I safe? Will the world be a better place? What will happen tomorrow?
We abandon optimism and embrace pessimism.
Ultimately, weighing the odds as a path to optimism fails us. Optimism's doppelganger pessimism is always there, lurking in the back of our mind. Whatever positive outcome we can think of based on the odds, the inverse is there too, waiting to creep out of the shadows of doubt in any optimistic calculation.
We are prisoners of the formula we use to navigate everyday life.
If we must be prisoners, then let it be inside the bright walls of hope. There is no calculation with hope, no variables to be weighed, no possible negatives to weigh against.
We hope because we believe against all odds.
We hope because we have faith despite the circumstance.
We hope because we can.
Embracing hope is contrary in an age of instant information. The facts, the variables are all their to serve us in our calculations. From news to statistics, from text messaging and cell phones to portable GPS navigation systems -- we have endless sources of facts for our formulas. All of it waiting at the touch of a button.
In the end, information itself is not enough. There's too much, the scenarios are too many, the possibilities for a negative outcome too high.
When faced with the darkest times, we often become a prisoner of hope by default and we achieve what we thought was impossible.
Stop doing the math. Erase the formula.
Believe against all odds.
Have faith despite the circumstance.
Hope because you can.
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