Optimists and pessimists used to be defined respectively as people who saw the glass half full or half empty. I guess today, in a "Code Orange" world, they would be defined as seeing the world as either "halfway to Code Yellow" or "halfway to Code Red." Optimists today though, probably qualify for minority status.

In the most simple way I can put it, people today, seem to just focus on the bad, first in our dissatisfaction with everything, next in our illogical need to always lay blame, and finally in our obsessiveness with perfection. It all just makes me so unhappy. I think it's my 5th grade teacher's fault. She was such a failure.

Personally, I feel we can find good in any and every situation. Lost your job? Finally you have some free time. Gas prices going through the roof? You can carpool with friends and build up a tolerance for communicable diseases and guys who tell unfunny jokes. Boyfriend dump you? You can finally rearrange that sock drawer that you used to give so much attention to (Well, that is what you girls told me when I asked you out!!).

Television again is a great metaphor for we as a people. In the old days when folks had only 3 channels to watch and one of them you could barely see, even with the tin foil on the rabbit ears; people were happy. And not just simply happy, they were ecstatic to see Milton Berle in a dress or Marshal Dillion separate the good guys from the bad. Nowadays we have 300 channels and can't find anything to watch but some real-life schlubs make real-life fools of themselves. Not to mention, the good guys and bad guys have been so tossed in the entertainment salad, nobody today can tell a Tony Soprano from a Tom Brokaw.

It seems evident that as life improves, optimism declines. I guess there is no need for it. A man with 4 Aces doesn't need to hope for a good draw. What I find the most humorous is that people today actually think that optimism (aka looking for the good in things) is naïve; when actually, naïve is just Evian spelled backwards; you know, the water they put a label on and sell to us for $4 a pop.
A friend recommended I check out the The Optimist Club's Creed and boy, I wish I could live so positively positive. Here are a few excerpts.
"To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet. To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true. To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile. To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others."

After reading that, I think most of us need the equivalent of the drug addict's "detox." I wonder if they have a "Betty Ford Clinic for the Persistently Negative." Our mantra could simply be, "Look for the Good." I feel like I try. A long time ago, I made up the epithet I want on my tombstone: "Where ever he was, he had the most fun." I hope this stands for my whole life.

There is a pretty simple test today to tell if you are an optimist or pessimist. If you regularly fear tumors from cell phones, stains on hotel room walls (that can only be seen under infrared lights), toxins in drinking water, toxins in the air, heck, toxins in anything - then you might be a pessimist. But you can at least blame the Eleven O'Clock News. If you don't watch the news, you're an optimist.