Many a time we here are warned to
not be naive. You can tell in people's wording and tone that they have pure and
utter contempt for those who make the mistake of being too positive. Those
people need to grow up, the "realists" say, because life is not fair.
On the other hand, there is now
an extremely frustrating, demoralizing, and frankly disturbing trend where
being cynical, nasty, and bitter is considered being "mature" and
"wise".
Frankly, both extremes are
bullshit and very dangerous, but especially the latter.
It is very true that there are
very dark and nasty things about life and the world we live in that you must
acknowledge. I cannot even begin to describe the damage that can occur from
people refusing to open their eyes to the truth. Ignorance is not bliss,
because it is only so long until the bubble bursts.
But cynicism is not always
wisdom. Refusing to have hope and work for a better world is not mature; it's
cowardly and traitorous to humanity. There are many out there who point out
that happy endings are impossible, that there is not such thing as true
goodness, and that humanity is doomed. Their motto is "life sucks, nothing
makes sense, nothing matters, and then you die."
If all you do is crush hope by
endlessly repeating that humanity and life suck, there is no point in trying to
improve things, and that good people cannot exist while insulting those of us
who believe we can do better as "naive", "stupid", or
"utopia-seekers"... well, frankly you are saying infinitely more
about you than you are of us.
If you wish to be truly
"realistic", you will understand that life is all about balance. Life
is not fair, and it is full of problems, dark truths, challenges, and tragic
elements. But it also contains a lot of wonderful aspects and provides many
opportunities for happiness, growth, and improvement.
At the end of the day, if you
have good and strong personal relationships, if you have been as productive as
you could, if you tried to have as much fun as you could, if you did all that
you could to improve the world around you, and if you know that you were the
best person you could be, you will have a lot less weight from regret and
worries on your shoulders. You will not be guaranteed a happy life or ending,
but at least you made the most of what you have.
For each of us that does, we
improve every human being's chances of living the best lives we can.
