Opimism vs Pessimism

23/02/2012
Fr. Jose Kaimlett

Optimism Vs. Pessimism

After I had spent the morning wandering around on the mountains, I was preparing myself to settle down in a restaurant. But first I went and sat on the wall that surrounded the community well. Two buckets were also standing there waiting for the farmer to fill them. As I looked down into the panoramic valley, I overheard the two buckets conversing rather animatedly.

“Ach, isn’t it a pity the way we are always lugged up here to the well, filled with water, carried back to the barn – and in no time we are empty again. The monotony of it all bores me.”

The other bucket was of another opinion, “I don’t find that boring at all. I am grateful that whenever I am empty, I can always come back here to the well and get a refill.”

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The pessimist as well as the optimist see one and the same thing from two different perspectives. The pessimist sees the bottle half empty; and it is true. Whereas the optimist sees the same bottle half full; which also is true. In other words it is a question of attitude; to look for and see the positive; or look only for and see only the negative. Either habit is acquired by practice. If one is a pessimist, there is no one else to blame but oneself.

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