Topic 9: Blind Optimism

Carol:

Pollyanna Speaks

Back in 1968-69 when I was studying in France, I was introduced to Voltaire and his 1759 satiric novel Candide: or, the Optimist. Candide was not the blind optimist of the story;but, he started out as one under the tutelage of Pangloss. who continually pronounced that “All is for the best in the best of all possible worlds,” an attitude that satirized philosophers and writers of that time period, especially picaresque romances. Voltaire outbested the writers he parodied much in the same way that Cervantes did over 100 years earlier when he created Don Quixote de la Mancha to satirize the chivalric romances of Spain. Candide’s “blind optimism” came from growing up isolated in an idyllic world, Don Quixote’s idealism from reading too many novels about idyllic figures conquering the wrongs of a less than idyllic world. Although I have oversimplified the themes of these famous works, both authors emphasized the necessity of looking at the world through the lens of truth and reason, putting their characters into realistic situations that shook their misplaced perceptions of the world.

I read Eleanor H. Porter’s 1913 novel Pollyanna and saw the Walt Disney movie of the book long before I met Candide and Don Quixote, so my overly optimistic view of the world most likely was influenced by her. One of the most significant lines in Porter’s book was "When you look for the bad in mankind expecting to find it, you surely will,” something of a precursor to “the self-fulfilling prophecy.” Look in the dictionary and you’ll find that the word “pollyanna” has become the negative term for someone with “blind optimism.”

Like Candide, I was raised in a somewhat sheltered environment under the tutelage of my own Pangloss, my mother. Like Don Quixote,I was raised on heavy doses of literature And I have been called a “Pollyanna” plenty of times by my more realistic friends and colleagues.

At the risk of sounding like a blind optimist, then, I continue to live by the philosophy that assumes the best is going to happen, that most people are good, and that I will be treated fairly by others. And that is pretty well what has happened to me, luck or blessing. Do I believe that we live in the best of all possible worlds? Absolutely not. Do I believe that when we look for the good in mankind expecting to find it, we surely will. Absolutely, mostly. I will end Topic #9 with part of the Ray Bradbury quote that began Topic # 7:

“may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world." (Ray Bradbury)



Megan:

Blind Optimism has always been an attitude I wished I possessed, while at the same time, I resent it in other people. And not because I’m jealous. Not entirely…

Optimistic people, of any kind, always seem so upbeat, so pleasant, so chipper and so frustratingly naïve. But you shouldn’t disabuse someone of that optimism, because it’s just too mean. The thing about disillusioning optimistic people – it can’t be done. And if it can, you feel terrible afterwards – like you’ve pulled the wings off a butterfly, or turned a believer into an atheist.

I wish I was an optimistic person, because I feel like it would be a comfort to me when things weren’t going well. All those clichéd sayings would become true, things would “happen for a reason” or “work out for the best” or “be worth it in the end.” Many times I have wandered down a random path with little thought about where it might lead, only because I’ve always been told it was the way to go – college, studying abroad, graduate school, getting a job. I thought being a librarian would be easy and I applied to the prison as a joke. And looking back, I could see that those choices and opportunities happened for a reason. Being a prison librarian seemed to work out for the best and it meant I got to live in England, so it was worth it in the end. Until it wasn’t anymore and I moved home.

Recently a job opportunity popped up that seemed so right, so meant to be, that my future life stretched out in front of me like a perfect panoramic photograph. I started looking for apartments and planning the wedding I would eventually have on the campus of the college. I was completely out of control in my mind, so optimistic and unlike myself that when I didn’t get it, my confidence was shattered. Not getting this job suddenly meant the picture disappeared. I will never get to live in that city. I will never get married.

A little part of me, the part that wants to be optimistic tries to reassure myself that this disappointment happened for a reason. The job I eventually get will be the best, and all of this will be worth it in the end. But the realist in me knows this may not be true. The economy sucks right now. I might have to take a job I’m not crazy about, in a place I don’t want to live, filled with people I don’t want to marry.

There’s this saying that once resonated with me when I was younger. “If you don’t get your hopes up, you won’t be disappointed.” How sad and cynical, how typically teen… but it seems more realistic.