Dear one,
“Optimistic”? “Pessimistic”? or “Realistic”? In my view, we Americans tend to play these three words against one another. That is, if we view ourselves as “optimistic,” our tendency is to suggest that we have good reason to be optimistic and are therefore being “realistic.” Likewise, if we view ourselves as “pessimistic,” we then cite the reasons for our pessimism, thereby touting a realistic view of the world. However we characterize ourselves: optimistic or pessimistic, few if any of us desire to be labeled “unrealistic.”
Whether profound or obvious, from my little “window on main street,” fear seems to be prevalent throughout our land. Undoubtedly this fear is the confluence of three forces: the corona virus, racial injustices, and next week’s elections. If indeed we are gripped by a prevailing fear—fear of Trump, fear of Biden; fear of police, fear of protesters; fear of an invisible “enemy,” fear of visible enemies—then it’s an easy step to suggest that we are given to pessimism, albeit a “realistic pessimism.”
Both of our words “optimism” and “pessimism” are derived from Latin, the former indicating “the best” or most favorable, the latter suggesting “the worst” or least favorable; but both words reflect statements of belief.[1] That is, the pessimist believes the worst, the optimist believes the best. If this is true, then we do well to note what informs that belief.
I hope you do not grow weary of my allusions to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, but earlier this week I read:
“There are people who regard [optimism] as frivolous, and some Christians think it impious for anyone to hope and prepare for a better earthly future. They think that the meaning of present events is chaos, disorder, and catastrophe; and in resignation or pious escapism they surrender all responsibility for reconstruction and for future generations. It may be that the day of judgment will dawn tomorrow; and in that case, though not before, we shall gladly stop working for a better future.”[2]
Bonhoeffer penned those words while in prison; he wrote as one informed by the Cross and Resurrection of Christ; he wrote as one who believed Jesus’ word:
“We must work the works of Him who sent me, while it is day; night comes, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:4-5).
Amen,
Stan
[1] Cf. Webster’s or the New Oxford American Dictionary.
[2] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison, ed. Eberhard Bethge (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1967), p. 16.