Multiple people have asked why I am optimistic about the future, given all the difficult news we face daily.
I was whacked like a 2×4 to my forehead recently when one of my mentors listened to me expressing my (many!) concerns, then quietly said “He still moves stones.” There is One who is in charge. His words reminded me of Jesus asking his disciples “Where is your faith?” (see Luke 8:25)
Here’s my message of optimism from a secular perspective:
Consider our situation, just 20 years ago, a year after 9/11. The dot-com crash crushed many hopes for the nascent internet ecommerce world. Governments were spending money faster than any drunken sailor could have imagined. The new “Homeland Security” ratcheting up made people nervous, even as we were fearful of terrorism and sheepishly accepted TSA security rules. The general economy had taken a huge hit. Confidence in world leaders reached new lows.
And then, from a business perspective at least, a new world order emerged: Google, Facebook, YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Prime, iPads and iPhones, commonplace broadband and wifi, Uber, GoFundMe, Wikipedia, Siri and Alexa, Tesla and SpaceX, Chunnel, and new tallest buildings. All things we take for granted today as ‘ordinary’ parts of our world. One of my acquaintances refers to this as ‘Axis Shift.’
Yes, new capabilities create new problems (or at least, old problems in different clothing). My point is how quickly we resurged from a horrendous low. We are an adaptable people. I’m old enough to remember the difficult economics of the 1970’s, made worse by the OPEC embargo. The struggle through recession in 1980-82. Then, the fall of the Soviet Union a few years later. Things we thought unbreakable, broke. Trends we considered unstoppable, reverted.
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We recently celebrated Thanksgiving in the US, so it’s good to remind ourselves of the Turkey Fallacy.
Every day the farmer brings food for the turkey. Day after day. Doesn’t change. The turkey happily thinks “This will go on forever!” Until a certain day in November when the farmer cuts his head off.
My uncle once put it in simpler terms. “If something can’t go on forever, it won’t.”
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“But Glenn, what about all this uncertainty? So many wildcards, so many possible concerns?”
Compare walking in bright light vs. walking in darkness.
Compare walking in familiar places vs. walking in someplace unfamiliar.
The difference is your confidence level.
I can’t think of a time in my life, or in the history our species, when there was no uncertainty, and no concerning developments. I’m also mindful of Mark Twain’s insight: “I’ve lived through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.”
Our car headlights light up about 100-150 yards in the darkness. Even so we can make long trips through the night. The key is to move forward.
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“But what if we make the wrong decision?”
We will, at least sometimes. Here’s what I’m learning more as I grow older: The specific decision matters less than what I do after making the decision and the results.
The decisions of others affect us, too. I don’t have to like their decision, but I am responsible for my own actions after they make the decision whether I think it was a good decision or not.
Let’s keep learning about the difference between our sphere of influence and our sphere of control.
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“It’s a hurting world, Glenn!”
Optimism doesn’t mean lack of feeling and resonance with the sadness, pain, loss, and suffering in others. Optimism doesn’t quench grief. Optimism helps us avoid being forever trapped in these and recovering balance. Optimism is about holding up our heads and moving forward. Optimism takes the long view. Optimism recognizes the view out the windshield is bigger than the rear-view mirror.
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“But everything feels like it’s changing!”
I agree that we are at edge of great changes, and much of what we’ve taken for granted for the last decades could change significantly. All change creates some loss. Yet we can be hopeful that some changes will be a net positive. There are old things which can be recovered and set anew. There are some popular but unhealthy things which can be set aside in favor of what is better.
Optimism helps us do what we can, with what we have, where we are, right now. And that’s all that we ever can do.
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“I can’t believe how stupid people are, and it’s getting worse! They’re going to get what they deserve and get it good.”
When was the last time in history that there weren’t many foolish people? No man is an island; we’re all in this together. Let’s make a mature choice in how we relate with other, especially fools and idiots.
Consider this 1968 (a very disturbing year in the US!) perspective by Kent Keith:
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People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.
The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.
People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.
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Compare optimism with your other options. Winston Churchill famously said to reporters during the worst of the London Blitz, “I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else.” Pessimism is impractical because it refuses to spend energy to solve problems. Apathy makes progress more difficult because it won’t confront challenges and can’t see opportunities. Cynicism is a nasty, loveless imitation of wisdom.
My grandfather used to tell me, “Don’t do things that make the Devil happy.” Pessimism, apathy, and cynicism make the Devil happy.
Choose optimism.
