Hope! Hope! Hurray!
A very popular film from the 20th century suggests that hope is a dangerous thing. That might be true for a lot of us. But at the same time, it could be false for a lot of us too. Being optimistic in today’s world — where cynicism rules pretty much all the corners of our civilizations — could very well be a curse. However, when you are a pessimist, you tend to die twice. Optimism beckons courage.
Let’s say you are going through a bad phase. Everybody does. You are not unique in this journey. The shittiness of your existence may convince you that your case is different but in all probability, it isn’t. The mistakes you’ve committed, the bad luck you’re facing, the idiots you’re going to tolerate, the cluelessness in your eyes… there’s nothing extraordinary about any of them. Given your limited scope of understanding regardless of how much you’ve read or seen or traveled, the world seems like it’s spinning for you.
It doesn’t.
Every morning you bother to wake up, you gift yourself another chance at doing things right; either picking up where you left last night or starting a new chapter altogether. It’s your choice because it’s your fight. Nobody else can fill in for you. Believe it or not, you are a warrior. You’ve been fighting all your life. The only difference being the lack of background score by Hans Zimmer. Everything is cool as long as you realize that your bout is with yourself. You’ve got to improve. Others are merely a supporting cast in your story. The world may not be about you but your story is. And at the end of the day, what’s the worst that can happen?
Take a moment. Imagine the most terrible possibilities.
Done? Good.
Now that you’ve processed it in your mind, it won’t ever turn into a reality. That’s not how tragedy works. Besides, the “worst” either happens in the past or in the future. It seldom takes place in the present. That’s why optimism is needed more than anything else right now on this planet, in our country, among our circle. Without a streak of positive DNA in our intentions, none of our actions could achieve what they are fully capable of. What’s ironic about our generation is the paradox of privilege so evident in our general attitude towards life. We want to enjoy whatever is at our disposal but when it comes to moving the needle for the greater good, we’ll resort to pessimism of the highest order. Why? Because it immediately absolves us of any responsibility. Making an effort demands activity and activity demands optimism. We look around and pick up perspectives. There’s a terrifying dearth of originality when it comes to the way we think. To that effect, on a daily basis, we are fed stories on how the world is a bleak place and we are mere puppets of capitalism and how the environment is crumbling and marriages are hollow and faith is redundant and so on.
Let’s step back a bit.
Yes, the world is indeed a bleak place but it’s always been like this. People have been shitty to each other under the garb of religion, region, colour, race, caste and creed. But shouldn’t it be our pursuit to shine some light in? Similarly, we are puppets of capitalism but that doesn’t mean we stop trying to find an alternative. The same logic applies to the ongoing assault on the environment; unless we buckle up our priorities, pessimism is only going to sink us further down. Marriages are hollow because we hear too much from those who failed at marriage and too little from those who succeeded. Lastly, faith is redundant for those who conclude they need an imaginary being in the sky to find a semblance in what they desire and what they achieve. Otherwise, faith is what runs our species. Always did. Always will.
On that note, let’s hope that we remain hopeful. For our own good.
