Could you Rephrase the Question?

Behind every Cloud, there is a Fighter Jet in strafe mode .......

I place little credence in any study from Mayo Clinic, which must publish its own journal (Mayo Clinic Proceedings) in order to disseminate studies of Mayo-origin adequately as other journals have learned to doubt the veracity of studies authored at Mayo.

Many other studies show that worriers live longest because they are less likely to drive vehicles needing repair, more likely to use seat belts, less likely to leave stoves on, more likely to take care of themselves and take appropriate medicines.

I prefer the utterance on this by Gary Larson in his Far Side series. A man is in hell, and has the devil directing him to either of two doors with a pitchfork. "C'mon, c'mon, it's one or the other." The doors say DAMNED IF YOU DO and DAMNED IF YOU DON'T.

um Stoney, Peter Lake, RY, & Doc Nolan ~ I think we were all just picked on by our host... inadvertly of course....

The problem with pessimism v. optimism is that the words are ambiguous.  Pessimism is variously defined as "expecting the worst possible outcome", "a general belief that bad things will happen", "the doctrine that this is the worst of all possible worlds", and "a general disposition to look on the dark side and to expect the worst in all things".  So, if one expects to die, is that considered realism or pessimism?  And if one expects wars to break out and kill millions, is that being pessimistic or just facing facts?  And isn't it obvious that this world is simultaneously both the best of all possible worlds and the worst precisely because there is only one possible world (at this instant), to wit the one which exists? (All other worlds are impossible since they are figments of our imaginations....).  And if one speaks of worlds in the future, what to make of the guy (a bit like me) who throws up his hands and says: "I don't know" [if the world of the future will be better or worse than the one in which we live now]. Is such a person a pessimist because he admits the future could involve nuclear warfare, biological warfare, and ecological catastrophe?  Or is he an optimist because he admits that the wonders of the past 50 years, ranging from increasing life spans, increased communications, and the marvels of technology and globalization are improving the lives of millions?  And what of the person who holds both positions?

Let's take up the opposite: optimism.  Here are a few definitions: ""an inclination to put the most favorable construction upon actions and events or to anticipate the best possible outcome", "the belief that good will eventually triumph over evil", "expecting the best", and "a feeling that all is going to turn out well."  So, I guess none of us will ever experience such unpleasantnesses as death, divorce, hospitalizations, and so on, right?  And we will live until each of us is 100 and in pretty good health until we quietly expire in the middle of the night, right?  Yeah, sure.  Now, all of these ARE possible individually and even as a group the joint probability of all of these occurring is finitely possible (geez, something I learned in statistics stuck!). I sure wouldn't want to go backpacking with someone who didn't bring raingear because "it's a beautiful day and tomorrow will probably be just as nice!"  Ditto the guy who doesn't pack a medical emergency kit, a whistle, a fire-starting kit, and dry clothes in a dry-pack.....  (Yes, I've met folks who leave any of these behind, and I'm sure a small minority backpack -- again using the concept of joint probability -- with none of these....Unfortunately a lot of documentation consistently proves that "God [DOES NOT] look after fools, drunks, and little children."  (Have you ever read the medical stats regards the number of drunk Russian males who die in the cold after imbibing way too much vodka and attempting to walk home in sub-zero temperatures?)  

The little Basket that one carries around in a Store, rather than pushing a Cart ... or the little Basket that one packs Pic Nic Fare in ....... Hand Basket ... There are, Baskets ... Big Enough to bury people in, and for years, in some cultures, it was quite common ...
Cleopatra always had a Hand Basket for her Asp, but Asp Basket was too hard to say, with a straight face ....... 

When one door closes, you're probably locked out.  Optimism is fine as long as you remember;  always be prepared!  Wasn't it Ben Frankin who said "prepare for the worst and you'll be pleasantly surprised'?  Or something like that? 

 
 
Welcome sanspoulet.
Hope you drop in again today .

good morning!!!
 
jaloppkin,
your clouds are the best!
 
doc,
"Is such a person a pessimist because he admits the future could involve nuclear warfare, biological warfare, and ecological catastrophe? "
 all of these events have already happened. 
 
fact 
 
no one has made it through life...... so far.......without death of their physical body....it's going to happen.....death is a fact.....how you deal with that fact, while your alive, determines your outlook....
 
from point a, being the beginning, to point b, being the end, is finite.  the simplicity of the equation is....what you do within those two points.......i choose light over darkness...it's a choice....simple
 
 

In the comic strip "Peanuts" that eternal optimist Charlie Brown would fall for realist Lucy's swearing that she wouldn't pull the football away this time when he went to kick it and yet, every time, she did. 
 
We tend to view that half full attitude as a certain dimness in people and the half empty viewpoint as more realistic.  Yet, I never give up hope.

Remember Jack Nicholson walking out of his therapist's office, stopping to look at the other waiting patients and asking, "What if this is as good as it gets?"
 
 

...no good deed goes unpunished...
 
I've never really understood the glass half empty/half full thing. It is the same amount of liquid irregardless, what matters is if it is enough to quench your thirst.
 
 
 

Behind  every  cloud,   there  is  the  2010  Chiago  Cubs,   going  for  the  championship  of  baseball.     OK,  OK,  so  I'm  a  half-filler......

Bert ~ My apologies for missing your name in my above post..
 
I'm not sure where I fall, sometimes I see gloom & doom & other times I see silver linings. I don't know ~ maybe it just all depends on what phase the moon is on?... 
 
 
 

Optimism is a faith in something. It's unfortunate that these days a faith in something - God, a good future, &c. - is always regarded as ignorance. Realism and pessimism, I find, often coincide. If this is a tendency of society towards pessimism, cynicism, what have you, I think I'm sorely disappointed. I'd like to think we had more faith in the collective goodness of humanity, but I'm beginning, too, to fall into that bear trap we call Realism. All all that it entails.

perception is reception....if one can not perceive.......one will not perceive.

Optimism~is seeing the glass full not half full as there are particles that make up water in the other half anyway, they just haven't been convinced it's time to come together to be a group yet.
 
Pessimism~doesn't matter, the glass is full of carcinogens anyway.

Why must the glass stay where it is? If I have reason to be optimistic (e.g. the sun is shining, I had a good breakfast, I am prepared for today's challenges) I will be. I don't believe anyone has to sit up in the morning and say, "I am one way, this is what I think, and this is what I like, and d-----d be any attempt to change it." When we are as free as we are in this world, what is the sense of limiting ourselves to one way of living?

i'ts a beautiful fall day here, rolling the harley's out of their nest, leathering up, meeting up with like minded, and rolling through the beautiful ozarks on back roads.....ah!  my sampson ground thumpers are the best of the pack rolling today..teehee..even if i'm a girl....we're all in our 50+ years, all had life happening circumstances....not crying in my milk.....plan on enjoying every minute....y'all have a great day.
 
park4....it's not cold here....you of all understand my excitement. 72 will bring 42.

This may seem off topic, but my mind keeps circling back to Eric Idles book The Road To Mars. In it he postulates that here are two types of comedians: the red nose and the white face. The red nose is a buffoon, utilizing parody and slapstic The white face is dignified and austere, employing irony and sarcasm. Red nose pokes fun (or more often is poked) at lifes absurdities. The white face prompts that no one gets out of here alive...
 
Optimism seems very red nose, and pessism is very white face.
 
The best comedy comes from teams comprised of one of each...Laurel and Hardy, Abbot and Costello, Farley and Spade.

"It depends on whether you are the one drinking or the waiter responsible for keeping it full."

This makes me think of my one college math class: binary math theories. Also Known As math for artists.  In the class was me (a writer), many music majors, a few dance majors, a large number of acting majors and a former NASA thinker as a teacher.  We had no text book, and the majority of the class was him yelling that things either ARE or AREN'T, then telling dirty jokes.
 
What I took away from the class that binary thinking is far too limiting for me.  Yes, the light is either on, or it is off, and the door is either closed or it is open, but when thinking comes about, everything is shades of gray.  I cannot be optimistic all the time;  Neither can I be pessimistic.  There are both good things and bad things to every situation.  Sure, things can be better, but things could also be worse. 

If I have a glass that is half-full and therefore also half-empty, I know at that moment in time, that is exactly what I have, and I do try to be grateful for that. 

On those days when I'm feeling peaceful and secure, I am perfectly content with my half-filled-half-empty glass..... ... I really enjoy days like that, ......but

..... then, ...... there are those days when I'm feeling insecure and full of the fear that my half-full-half-empty glass just won't be enough; or that I will lose what is in the glass or someone, something, will take it away....... I don't like those days and do all I can to minimize them........... and then......

..... there are those days when I'm feeling strong and take action to strip away fear's disguises and feel confident that no matter how full or empty my glass may be that I can somehow replenish it with whatever I need. These are the days when I know that it is all about choice and assuming the mantle of responsibility in the end. These are the best days of all.

I wish good days for you. Peace out.

A half empty glass always has room for more bourbon.

CUUKOO1:   You are too kind ....... Thank You for saying so ....... I often remember days on ther Mekong Delta when the cloud cover was so thick it was almost low hanging fog ... and how the humidity was so high that water dripped off everything as tho it had been raining, and how the moisture magnafied the shrieking of the Jets and the WOP   WOP   WOP of the Cobras so that we could hear them miles before we ever saw them ... We'd hold up great tarps upon which we had painted, "We're Friendly" in bright Red ....... Sometimes also a Unit Number ... Fumes left behind from near on-the-deck passes by the Jet Jockeys were a welcomed mask for the feotid stench of that nasty black water we were bobbing around in, taking turns sleeping, always someone awake, watching, waiting ... noticing how many of the Slopes from the "South" had black pajamas too ....... Never quite getting used to, and gagging daily on the foul aroma of Monkey Meat roasting over a fire made from burning garbage ... never seeing a stray cat anywhere to use for bait, and figuring that at least you'd never get a furball from eating LRP's, instead of the local cuisine, offered constantly by a continuous stream of Slope vendors, pumping your paranoia higher and higher ... and just about the time you get tired of being so irritatedly vigillant, and feel stupid about yourself, you remember the 2nd. Class Gunner's Mate who died two villages over, from an overdose of Digitalis, or Potassium, or something ELSE that just didn't belong where you were .......  The distant clouds with their bright lining, which turned out to be Napalm ... your hoping the fumes would drift over the replace the ones blessedly left by your flyboy buddies ....... Clouds ....... They're a Good Thing .......

JALOPKIN - I salute you good friend.                                                                              .  cuukoo1 - a healthy perspective very well said indeed....

Jalopkin,  I  haven't  heard  the  term  "Slopes"  since   1975.   And  of  course  in  the  1980's  listening  to  Hollywood,  as  our  excursion  into  Southeast  Asia  became  "cool"  and  we  had  civilians  watching  "Apocalypse  Now"  or  "Platoon"  as  though  they  were  merely  giant  screen  video  games.  One  thing  I  notice,  Vietnam  vets  are  highly  likely  to  be  homeless,  alcoholic,  charged  with  crimes,  or  suffer  mental  illnesses  (in  addition  to  PTSD). 
 
Let's  talk  about  something  fun.  If  I  snag  a  case  of  premium  vodka,  will  I  havevolunteers  to  donate  monster  green  pitted  olives,  plus  bleu  cheese  anchovies?  Club  car  reservations  for  half  your  seating,  starting  around  1900   EST

Optimism and insanity seem like two side of the same coin these days.  Its often quoted that insanity is doing the same thing over and over  while expecting different results. Optimism is doing the same thing over and over and thinking your're gonna get it right this time.    

Julia Masi---this must be why I'm always muttering under my breath, "I must be crazy for doing this."

"I'm still crazy after all these years"....... Paul Simon

I am very shallow, girls just want to have fun

I've not read Barbara Ehrenreich's new book yet, but I cannot help but wonder whether the phenomenon that she describes owes to the fact that as a nation, most of us are on a serotonin reuptake inhibitors (Celexa, Zoloft, Paxil, Prozac and others). During patient triage, we almost don't ask anymore why people are on these, and why they've invariably been on them perennially. In many cases they no longer know.

SRI's do not make people happy, but they engender a state of mind in which people don't respond normally to stressful stimuli. They give the walking wounded an anemic positivism. I've watched medical students be placed on these because of non-coping with stress, whereupon their grades tank and they are not upset. Bills go unpaid. Tax returns go uncompleted. Car repairs are postponed and routine self-care gets forgotten about.

Since strong data show that SRI's are no more effective for mental health than exercise, quality social interaction and keeping a journal, I for one have been encouraging many patients to try life off of these drugs. It is gratifying to watch people being feeling again, re-cultivating goals, and getting themselves on top of their problems. Authentic optimism comes about when people recognize that while they cannot control all aspects of their lives, they can certainly exert control over many things.

Gandhi encouraged us to live each day as if it is our last, but to plan on living forever. SRI's make neither of these behaviors feasible. As for myself, my outlook is best when dues are paid, bills are paid off, e-mails and letters are responded to, the dentist has had a go at my teeth, I've studied up, what devices I utilize are in good working order, and something social that I look forward to is planned.

Jalopkin,

I suggest that you ask a doctor to do blood testing to screen you for schistosomiasis. The Mekong Delta has always been the most-Schistosoma-infected waterway on earth. It's easy to treat even years later, and can cause liver failure if never treated.

Send me a private message if I can help. You'd be amazed at how many veterans have it and don't know about it.

it's a pityful time in this country, when someone shares and are thought to be shallow or insane for being happy and/or honest.  very sad indeed.  the glass contents isn't the only thing everyone seems sold on being equally divided.

karma swim swami: your usual words of wisdom are appreciated.  I find that activity, especially goal-centered activity, is helpful as dispelling unpleasant emotions.  That and time.  ---  I try to imagine feelings as shadows and bright patches racing across the consciousness, real but not 'the essence' of what's out there.  In a strange way, watching one's emotions as if they were not one's own emotions (distancing them) neither makes them disappear nor loom larger -- but it converts them from hard realities into soft background, as if they were waves on a sea.  Sure it's 'a trick', but much of what one does is based on deliberately deceiving oneself.  Think of the lyrics from 'The King and I'"Whenever I feel afraid
I hold my head erect
And whistle a happy tune
So no one will suspect
I'm afraid.

While shivering in my shoes
I strike a careless pose
And whistle a happy tune
And no one ever knows
I'm afraid.

The result of this deception
Is very strange to tell
For when I fool the people
I fear I fool myself as well!

I whistle a happy tune
And ev'ry single time
The happiness in the tune
Convinces me that I'm not afraid.

Make believe you're brave
And the trick will take you far.
You may be as brave
As you make believe you are

You may be as brave
As you make believe you are

And smiling when times get tough is often all that's required to elicit that emotion called happiness.

Cuukoo1:    I  for  one  reject  the  premise  that  optomists  are  crazy,  that  we  can  never  fix  what's  wrong  with  America,  or  that  heroes  are  only  from  times  long  gone.        By  stubbornly  trying  to  live  my  whole  life  that  way,    I  have  had  the  high  honor  and  privilege  of  meeting  and  serving  with  outstanding  individuals  who  also  refuse  to  lose,  so  to  speak,  when  it  comes  to  maintaining  personal  integrity  and  love  of  country.  Don't  be  sad,  I  have  lots  of  company....it  just  isn't  fashionable  or  newsworthy  to  think  this  way.  And  you  can  be  my  friend  forever,  just  amend  your  comments to  delete  "everyone"  and  replace   it  with  "many."

Tonight in the Pharmacy Car of thesepia train, there will be a pharmacist dispensing refills for your Zoloft prescriptions. 
  
ha
ha
ha
 
It's half full for heaven's sake.  What's the good in seeing it as half empty?

can just hear the humming of the king and i......
 
ok bert....x'ed out "everyone" and insert "most".

"One  thing  I  notice,  Vietnam  vets  are  highly  likely  to  be  homeless,  alcoholic,  charged  with  crimes,  or  suffer  mental  illnesses  (in  addition  to  PTSD). " -- bert

Well, holy cripes bert, how do you know this?  Is it just a casual observation of yours, some passing generalization based on not much, that little itch of a thought that you unwisely decided to share?

Just because you think something doesn't mean you have to say it.  Consider your fellows, here, just for once, consider all of them.  Sometimes it's better not to comment, what you said was insensitive, and belies all you say about what a feeling and sensitive guy you are.

sorry...but, wow.

Park4:     There  are  statistics  supportive  of  what  I  said.   I  see  the  statistics  validated  in  my  practice,  and  I  try  to  give  a  little  bit  extra  for  those  that  came   home  with  special  problems.  I  meant  no  disrespect,  I  was  commenting  on  optomism  -vs-  pessimism,  and  how  some  fine  men  &  women  can  acquire  difficulties  due  to  factors beyond  their  own  control,  and  therefore  deserve  our  caring  &  compassion.  Sorry  if  you  read  the  message  differently.

I think, I feel, I choose to believe that we are all the sum of the choices we have made. I believe this is especially true of how we choose to perceive that glass that still has plenty of room. Choose wisely 'cos nobody knows how many chances they get.  Everyone is invited to the club room on thesepia train tonight where you may add as much to your private glass as you see fit. All you gotta do is show up. It's like that every night.

I'm a realist AND an optimist. I think reality is way cool!
Besides, pessimism is just a bummer. My grandmother always said "expect the worst and you'll never be disappointed", but I like having high expectations, even though they are dashed sometimes. Dashes go with dots, and I love polka dots.
That being said, there're places in the cyberverse that are freaky cool too. I just visit though...

BERT:  As Will Rogers usta say, "Figures Never Lie, but Liars Always Figure ..."   Statistics are a load of C R A P just like ADHD and PTSD and all those other Syndrome that were invented by some pointy-head so's he can keep a job, or write another Book for the Oprah Circuit ... or get Tenure at Podunk University ... (I've got the Sweatshirt, and it does say, PU on the front of it) Statistics can be made to say anything necessary to support whatever the Researcher needs said, so's he can get a paycheck ....... My life is so Blessed, that I am the exception to every one of those situations you mention and (SWAMI) I've never even had a Cold in my life, and I have more Formal Education than any ten people you know ... I just don't spew about it or paste the Forum with PseudoFreudian Psychobabble from Coffee-Table Books written by the denizens of the Opry  Set or the National Enquirer .......
Suffice it to say, you cannot tell me anything about Viet Nam unless you have been there first ....... And you can bet your ass that the one very real disaster of human health that we brought back from Viet Nam, that The Fourth Reich has NEVER admitted Liability for, is Agent Orange !!!  I've seen a thousand lives ruined by it, and still there is total disavowal from from the illustrious government .......
 
CUUKOO1 and PARK4 ... Bless You both ... I too appreciate your perspective .......
 
PETER LAKE:  Thank You for your fine compliment, and I must say, I too am a huge Paul Simon Fan ... You have Good Taste in Music ....... A most versitile entertainer, and I think Graceland is the best thing he ever did ...
 
God Bless You All ... Bert ....... I have to go and see if a couple of Shots of Glennfiddich will assuage a severe case of the Red Ass .......

The glass has a scratch
          So buff it.
The glass is cracked.
          So fix it.
The glass is half-empty.
          So fill it.
The glass is half-full.
          So finish it.
There is no glass.
          So make one.
There is no liquid.
          So get some.
The glass is stained.
          So it has character.
The glass is chipped.
           So it has more character.
The glass is broken.
           So get a new one.
The glass was stolen.
           So get it back.
The glass has a slow leak.
           So drink from that end.
The liquid is poison.
           So dilute it.
The liquid looks odd.
            So sip it carefully.
The liquid is too hot.
            So cool it off.
The liquid is too cold.
            So warm it up.
The liquid is unknown.
            So know it.
The glass is too small.
            So savor it.
The glass is too big.
            So explore it.
The glass and the liquid are gone.
            So remember it.

Reference Vietnam War vets, read Lewis B. Puller's autobiography, 'Fortunate Son'.  The son of famed Marine Corps General 'Chesty' Pulle, Lewis Puller committed suicide in 1994.  His book is something every high school boy should read....  If you want to know ABOUT Lewis Puller, here's his entry in the Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Burwell_Puller,_Jr. If you want to KNOW Lewis Puller and understand more than humans really should understand then read 'Fortunate Son' itself....  http://www.amazon.com/Fortunate-Son-Autobiography-Lewis-B-Puller/dp/055356076X ; . 

Incidentally I've met or known some World War II combat veterans (including an uncle who suffered from 'battle fatigue' after being in the Battle of the Bulge, and a survivor of the Bataan Death March). Human beings and human nervous systems aren't designed to survive battle stresses; every war leaves men damaged.  It's part of the price politicians are willing to pay since their own kids are usually (but not always) protected from combat roles...

D-Zev: I like it!

DZ, you have described the set of glasses stocked in the club car of Thesepia Train.

Bartender? It's hot buttered rum weather...pour me one please?

I'll take a Twinkie Martini

Oh, and if you get a "Twinkie Martini" the varietal correctness of the glass is academic.

Daniel, that was great, thank you!  It's a printer, for sure.  I think it's actually refrigerator-hanging worthy.
 
Seriously,  many thanks for the excellent words.

IVAN:  TO QUOTE A WISE MAN I KNOW, WHO HAILS FROM THE GREAT STATE OF TEXAS:
 
 
GOOD ON YOU!
 
 
p.

Most people appear to have a tendency to look at the world and its inhabitants in binary terms, but I think life is more of a continuum.

We, as individuals, develop separate views and travel down different paths. Our thoughts, experiences, and beliefs are our own. It doesn't make any of us right or wrong. It makes us unique.

I think we should respect the differences in all of us and the variations in the way we touch each others lives. In reality, living well takes all of us, optimists and pessimists alike - and all the shades of gray in-between, working together.

Personally, I choose to be optimistic. I seem to have this kernel of optimism planted deep within me that just refuses to die; no matter how it's used or abused. I take every chance I'm given to nourish this integral aspect of myself and share it with others. I'm always grateful when there is any amount of water in the glass to help that seed grow. Perhaps it also means that I'm stubborn and I refuse to let anything conquer me. No matter what comes my way, I truly believe "I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul."

JALOPKIN ~ From the bottom of my heart, thank you for your service and your sacrifices.