OPTIMISTS AND PESSIMISTS

Opunake Times, 12 January 1934, Page 2

OPTIMISTS AND PESSIMISTS

—.— * ‘'Whatever else is false, this at least is true, that both optimism and pessimism when allowed to run amuck are dual manifestations of intellectual drunkenness, * comments a London daily paper. “Excessive optimism is a dope which causes drunkenness in. the brain. Unrelieved pessimism is a poison which produces drunkenness of the soul. Your pessimist is a man who sees nothing- in everything. Your optimist, is a man who, alas ! sees everything- in nothing. AVe are all painfully aware that much is happening in the world to-day to fill our thoughts with apprehension for the future. Peace of mind and tranquility of soul are denied us in these mad and hectic days of world chaos. But if the nations are ever again to return to sanity and mutual toleration it will be brought about bv those who have the to see that neither carefree optimism uor haggard nagging pessimism can solve any major problem of existence. The really happy and usjeful people in the world are those who know what real trouble is and take the trouble to overcome it without overwhelming other people. The sober fact is that we cannot nowadays afford

to countenance either the optimist or the pessimist. For what hope is there in all the world if we place our faith in the man who has lost his head, or still worse, if we give heed to the spit-pitying lamentations of the man who has lost heart?”