Stop being “Pessimist”, I have heard this lot of times from my close & loved ones so far, so much that some where I have accepted that I am a pessimist.
What is with a pessimist? What’s wrong in thinking that something might not work the way we want it to work? Isn’t that the case a lot of times? If a famous personality or a scientist or a mathematician says it, or proves it with formula, it’s accepted as law. If a common man (in this case, common woman, me ;)) says it, it is pessimism!!
Now, give it a thought… if everyone is accepting Murphy’s Law, a law which has worked perfectly well, what’s the deep thought with in Murphy’s Law? “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong”. Well said… people accepted. Even the most optimist person accepts this. Why would not an optimist say that no to this? So is there no pessimism in this? I am sure an optimist would counter argue saying, no it’s just being practical… is it so? I still see a certain degree of pessimism even in the optimist if someone accepts this law.
Why register any vehicle? I have given a thought a lot of times. Why would not people just take a new vehicle & start driving, I have thought for quite some time. Only reason that even the Wikipedia says was that the vehicle registration was made mandatory to track the vehicles “in case” of accidents. Oh Really!!! I thought. What would a group of people/ a body/ a society who ever came up with an idea of registering the vehicle thought about it? “IF”, there is an accident then we need to track the vehicle & its owner etc. isn’t there pessimism? Well, people might counter argue saying its practical. Whole world accepted just because a group of people said that. What about all those optimists sitting out there? Even they want their vehicles registered!!!
Now, why is wearing a helmet made compulsory for riding a 2 wheeler? Of course, it is no brainer. It is protect your head “IF” you meet with accident. Isn’t that being pessimist? Well, it’s being practical as defined by optimist. Then why would an optimist wear a helmet? Give it a thought J
Now, having said that, isn’t being practical in a way accepting pessimism? If yes, then think a little further, if optimist accepts that being practical is ok, then by transitive law, isn’t an optimist also a pessimist to some extent? So deep within all of us, is there a pessimist or an optimist who is trying to see the world & incidences the way we see it?
If being practical is not being pessimist, then which is that thin line which separates being practical from pessimism. Something that is constantly haunting me, but till now I haven’t been able to successfully draw that thin line & “I don’t think I can draw that thin line too” … now, what’s that?!!!
Shubha - your definition of pessimism is quite weird to me. WHatever you have explained is people think alll different possible things that can happen for an event. And also what is the propbaility of these events hapenning. Depending on that the rules are made.
ReplyDeleteAbout pessimism what I think or relate is: Any task or anthing you perceive. What is the first thought you get. I can acheive this task with whatever constraint I have. later I dig deep into the constarints and mitigate/contigent the same. The first thought of "I can do this task" is optimism. The first thought of "I dont think I can do for the following reasons" is pessimissim.the optimistic person acheive what so ever "the task" but the pesimistic guy gives reason for not achieving it :-). Hope i explained my thought
Yes... that's the general definition of pessimism or optimism... But deep with in everyone what dominates is what I am trying to analyze
DeletePessimism is a state of mind in which one anticipates negative outcomes. Value judgments may vary dramatically between individuals, even when judgments of fact are undisputed. The most common example of this phenomenon is the "Is the glass half empty or half full?" situation. The degree in which situations like these are evaluated as something good or something bad can be described in terms of one's optimism or pessimism respectively. Throughout history, the pessimistic disposition has had
Deleteeffects on all major areas of thinking