Pessimist
The Makings of a Pessimist
"Lance" is a pessimist. It seems he always expects the worst out of life. If he is invited to go out with friends, he asks a number of questions, all in a negative tone: Why do you want to do that? How long do you think we'll be? What if we get stuck in traffic? Can't find it? Don't enjoy it? Get hurt? It sometimes makes it difficult to be Lance's friend.
Winston Churchill once said, "The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty" ("Pessimist"). Two people can look at the same situation or have the same experience, yet reflect on it in completely opposite ways. It seems that Lance was just born a pessimist, while others are just born optimists. As with Lance, one set of difficulties seems to beget another, while optimists seem to enjoy one "lucky" break after another. It begs the question: are pessimists unhappy because bad things happen to them, or do bad things happen because they are pessimists?
Spirit of Work It is difficult being, at worst, a pessimist and, at best, a realist. One not only feels guilty about complaining and seeing the glass half full, but also disappointed and angry about the way things exist. These are the personal feelings evoked when reading "The Spirit of Work" by Lance Secretan in Imagine - What America Could be in the 21st Century by Marianne Willamson. As a point
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