Are you a pessimistic lemming?- Page 3

[Sir Percival Glyde]

Posted: 10/8/05 at 8:58am

through all the ways of our unintelligible world, the trivial and the terrible walk hand in hand together.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 10/9/05 at 8:07am

Being a pessimist or an optimist is totally dependent on how one reacts to life. Some events in one’s life can be controlled. For example, balancing the quantity of calories consumed against the calories burned will determine whether one is over or under weight; choosing to drink an excessive quantity of alcohol over an extended period of time, or not, will determine whether one is likely to suffer the effects of alcohol addiction and related diseases, or not; choosing to drive at twice the speed limit on a wet and winding road, or not; might be a factor in whether one is in an accident or not; choosing one partner over another; the list is endless. There are other events in life that are outside oneself, and where personal choice is not part of the equation. One can not choose to be a victim of cancer; one can not choose to be caught in a natural disaster; one usually does not choose to get oneself fired from one’s job; you get the idea.

It is, however, the way each of us responds to these latter types of events in life that demonstrates whether one is a pessimist or optimist. Life is about change; change we can control and change that we can not control. One sees oneself either as perpetual victim or one doesn’t. Learning how to handle the change that is out of one’s control is the process of maturity.

Now, whether one views all people as inherently good, or not, is dependent on one’s personal perspective of life. I believe that there is a purpose for each life. I also believe that there is a reason for everything that happens in life, and quite often those reasons are never fully made clear. Therefore, I believe there are some people who are not inherently good, but are instead inherently, and truly, evil. I don’t believe I’ve ever met such a person, but do they exist? I sure believe so. The trick in life is to avoid them, and to avoid getting sucked into the miasma that surrounds them.

In short, I am reminded of two epigrams of Wilde’s:

* Cynicism is merely the art of seeing things as they are instead of as they ought to be.

* Life is much too important a thing ever to talk seriously about.

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 10/9/05 at 1:19pm

I now quote a monologue from Man Of La Mancha - delivered by Cervantes to The Duke, upon being told that he should try seeing "life, as it is."

"Oh my friend, I have lived on this earth for over 40 years and I have seen life "as it is"...pain, misery, hunger, cruelty beyond belief. I have heard the singing from the taverns and the moans from the bundles of filth on the streets. I have been a soldier, and I have seen my comrades fall in battle or die, more slowly, under the lash in Africa. I held them in my arms at the final moments. These were men who had seen life "as it is" and yet they died despairing, no glory, no gallant last words, only their eyes filled with confusion, whimpering the question "Why?". I do no think they asked why they were dying, but rather, why they had lived. When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Too much sanity may be madness. To seek treasure where there is only trash. Perhaps to be practical is madness, and maddest of all, to see life "as it is" and not AS IT OUGHT TO BE."

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/9/05 at 2:00pm

That Dale Wasserman sure had a way with a quip that trounced Wilde in its construction and rapier wit!

[smartpenguin78]

Posted: 10/9/05 at 2:05pm

"We all deserve to die... The lives of the wicked should be made brief, for the rest of us death would be a relief."