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Choose optimism

Rich Devos

If you expect something to turn out badly, it probably will. Pessimism is seldom disappointed. But the same principle also works in reverse. If you expect good things to happen, they usually do! There seems to be a natural cause-and-effect relationship between optimism and success.

Optimism and pessimism are both powerful forces, and each of us must choose which we want to shape our outlook and our expectations. There is enough good and bad in everyone's life--ample sorrow and happiness, sufficient joy and pain--to find a rational basis for either optimism or pessimism. We can choose to laugh or cry, bless or curse. It's our decision: From which perspective do we want to view life? Will we look up in hope or down in despair?

I believe in the upward look. I choose to highlight the positive and slip right over the negative. I am an optimist by choice as much as by nature. Sure, I know that sorrow exists. I am in my 70s now, and I've lived through more than one crisis. But when all is said and done, I find that the good in life far outweighs the bad.

An optimistic attitude is not a luxury; it's a necessity. The way you look at life will determine how you feel, how you perform, and how well you will get along with other people. Conversely, negative thoughts, attitudes, and expectations feed on themselves; they become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Pessimism creates a dismal place where no one wants to live.

Years ago, I drove into a service station to get some gas. It was a beautiful day, and I was feeling great. As I walked into the station to pay for the gas, the attendant said to me, "How do you feel?" That seemed like an odd question, but I felt fine and told him so. "You don't look well," he replied. This took me completely by surprise. A little less confidently, I told him that I had never felt better. Without hesitation, he continued to tell me how bad I looked and that my skin appeared yellow.

By the time I left the service station, I was feeling a little uneasy. About a block away, I pulled over to the side of the road to look at my face in the mirror. How did I feel? Was I jaundiced? Was everything all right? By the time I got home, I was beginning to feel a little queasy. Did I have a bad liver? Had I picked up some rare disease?

The next time I went into that gas station, feeling fine again, I figured out what had happened. The place had recently been painted a bright, bilious yellow, and the light reflecting off the walls made everyone inside look as though they had hepatitis! I wondered how many other folks had reacted the way I did. I had let one short conversation with a total stranger change my attitude for an entire day. He told me I looked sick, and before long, I was actually feeling sick. That single negative observation had a profound effect on the way I felt and acted.

The only thing more powerful than negativism is a positive affirmation, a word of optimism and hope. One of the things I am most thankful for is the fact that I have grown up in a nation with a grand tradition of optimism. When a whole culture adopts an upward look, incredible things can be accomplished. When the world is seen as a hopeful, positive place, people are empowered to attempt and to achieve.

In the absence of optimism, however, we are left with nothing but critics, naysayers, and prophets of doom. When a nation expects the worst from its people and institutions, and its experts focus exclusively on faults, hope dies. Too many people spend too much time looking down rather than up, finding fault with their country's political institutions, economic system, educational establishment, religious organizations, and--worst of all--with each other.

Faultfinding expends so much negative energy that nothing is left over for positive action. It takes courage and strength to solve the genuine problems that afflict every society. Sure, there will always be things that need fixing. But the question is, Do you want to spend your time and energy tearing things down or building them up?

The staging of a Broadway show could illustrate my point. Let's say a new production is about to open. A playwright has polished the script, investors have put up the money, and the theater has been rented. A director has been chosen, actors have been auditioned and selected, and the cast has been rehearsing for weeks. Set, lighting, and sound engineers have been hard at work. By the time opening night arrives, nearly a hundred people have labored tirelessly--all working long hours to make magic for their audience.

On opening night, four or five critics sit in the audience. If they pan it, the play will probably close in a matter of days or weeks. If they praise it, the production could go on for a long and successful run. In the end, success or failure might hinge on the opinion of a single person--someone who might be in a bad mood on opening night!

What's wrong with this scene? In one sense, nothing. Critics have a legitimate role. The problem arises when we make critics our heroes or put them in control of our fate. When we empower the critic more than the playwright, something is wrong. It is much easier to criticize than to create. When we revere the critics of society, we eventually become a society of critics, and when that happens, there is no room left for constructive optimism.

We need to honor those who create and take risks. When we discredit problem solvers and creators, innovation is stifled. People instinctively hold back when they know their work will be subjected to the cynicism of a heartless critic. When we encourage negativism too much, when we honor the critics more than the creators, we run the risk of producing a generation that only knows how to tear things down.

In the 1960s, Ralph Nader became a national celebrity by criticizing the automobile industry. In fairness to him, it must be said that the auto industry needed some improving. But it's also important to recognize that Ralph Nader never built an automobile. Today, this industry skillfully mass-produces modern cars and sells them at a price that most people can afford. It is a complex process, but it is accomplished so expertly that few of us appreciate the difficulty of the task. It's far easier to find fault with your car and take it for granted. What impresses me most is not what's wrong with our cars but what's right. What a marvelous accomplishment that finished vehicle represents.

If you think most people are slow-witted or incompetent (as many critics do), or that every big industry is hopelessly corrupt and greedy, then it's unlikely that you will be working hard to make things better. Pessimism, cynicism, the downward look--all of these attitudes lead to paralysis and inaction. If you believe the system can't be fixed, then you'll never make the attempt. Progress is always fueled by positive, optimistic thinking. People are empowered by praise and encouragement.

We live in a marvelous age, yet I know a lot of people who are consumed by nostalgia for the "good old days." They are continually pessimistic about the present and the future. They think that if the economy is good, then social values must be bad. If the national crime rate is down, then private immorality must be up. While I have fond memories and great respect for those who have gone before me, I do not pine for the past. I choose to live in the present and be optimistic about the future. And I have good reason to feel that way!

When our nation was established, the average life expectancy was less than 40 years of age. For men, a typical workweek was 72 hours. For women, it was worse. Women worked at home nearly 100 hours a week, and they did so without the benefit of modern appliances. People seldom traveled more than 200 miles from their birthplace in their entire lifetime, and most got no further than a day's walk. Disease was common-place, the infant mortality rate was high, wealth was not widely distributed, and slavery was widespread. Does that sound like "the good old days" to you?

Optimism doesn't need to be naive. You can be an optimist and still recognize that problems exist and that some of them are not dealt with easily. But what a difference optimism makes in the attitude of the problem solver. For example, through the years I've heard some people say that the money spent on our space program has been wasted. "Instead of spending $455 million to put a man on the moon," they say, "why not spend that money here on earth on the poverty problem?" But when you ask them exactly how they would spend that money to solve the poverty problem, most of them don't have an answer. "Give me a solution," I tell them, "and I'll raise you the money." Think in positive terms about how to address the issue rather than criticizing money spent on another program, such as America's space program, which resulted in many positive discoveries that have benefited mankind.

Optimism diverts our attention away from negativism and channels it into positive, constructive thinking. When you're an optimist, you're more concerned with problem-solving than with useless carping about issues. In fact, without optimism, issues as big and ongoing as poverty have no hope of solution. It takes a dreamer--someone with hopelessly optimistic ideas, great persistence, and unlimited confidence--to tackle a problem that big. It's your choice.

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