Black Knight #2

Being an optimist isn't incompatible with realizing the world is a dark, screwed-up, awful place sometimes.

Optimists get stereotyped as stupid. Unrealistic. People throw around the word "Pollyanna" as a grave insult, and it cuts. Because the implication is, if you believe in the good in people, if you hold on to hope, then you're obviously a sucker.

I disagree. The suckers are the ones who wallow in what's gone wrong.

Yes, people betray one another. Yes, wrongs happen that never get righted. People get sick, and starve to death, and injustice runs rampant. Love gets lost and never found, and people make mistakes they don't get forgiven for. Liars win sometimes.

The reason my life is worth living, and the reason the world is a beautiful place, is because in spite of all those things, it's worth hoping for. That in all of those terrible things, there are still tiny justices; a woman wronged by her unfaithful husband helping out a homeless boy on the street wronged by an alcoholic parent. From the misery they've both endured, they create a little bit of justice and hope.

It's in the darkest times and the most awful circumstances that give us the best opportunities to do good. Anyone can do the right thing in paradise. What fills me with hope and happiness is when we find reasons to do good things anyway. To hold onto what's good, rather than what's bad, knowing that you have a choice to do either one. There is so much good and bad in the universe that you could spend every waking moment doing nothing but remembering one or the other.

I prefer the good. I prefer to keep, as a little secret fire, the belief that the good can overwhelm what's bad if given time, energy, a little luck, and a lot of believing. I do this because, honestly, I couldn't face the day otherwise.