Saints and Sinners: Hang onto hope; optimism is bliss
Are we on the verge of going to war with Iraq?
If so, should the public be alerted to the worst so that we are prepared when the inevitable comes to pass?
Some would say that is what most of the media is already doing, and is being responsible in doing so. Others would say we should be optimistic and put a happy face on events regarding that part of the world hoping that all bad news will go away.
Here is how the London Daily Express handled the crisis in Europe for its 4 million subscribers before the outbreak of war with Germany in 1938: It adopted the slogan, “There will be no war,” and put it in big type each day on the front page.
“Our use of that slogan is still used to attack the Daily Express,” wrote editor Arthur Christiansen in his 1961 autobiography, “Headlines All My Life” (Harper & Row). But he still defended the paper’s use of the “no war” slogan. He maintained that the British survived the war better than if their spirits had been depleted and drained by despairing talk of war before it came.
Optimism can work even when the things we hope for don’t pan out as we wish. I once worked for a newspaper that was about to close. On the night the presses were due to roll for the last time, people were clearing out their desks and saying tearful goodbyes to one another.
But not everyone was gloomy.
“I’m still optimistic,” I said as I grabbed my hat and headed for the door. “Good night.”
My thought was, let others say goodbye if they want to.
Such optimists are considered incurable romantics. They throw coins in the wishing well and actually make a wish. They are the ones whose glasses are half-full while the rest of the world’s is half-empty. They are believers in miracles.
E.B. White was both an optimist and a realist when he wrote this to a friend in the throes of despair:
“Sailors have an expression about the weather. They say, ‘The weather is a great bluffer.’ I guess the same is true of our human society. Things can look dark, then a break shows in the clouds and all is changed — sometimes rather suddenly. So hang your hat. Hang onto your hope. Tomorrow is another day.”
Fellow optimist and author Marsha Sinetar also gives some sage advice on how to view your troubles in her book “Do What You Love, the Money Will Follow: Discovering Your Right Livelihood.” She writes: “A person is many wonderful, strange things. We have a ‘how did I ever get into this mess?’ kind of feeling that seems like it will never go away. But, by some mysterious grace, it does!”
Unfortunately, the grim morning headlines and the somber evening news have made us forget that the good life is still available to those who seek it with all their heart. We need to remember that the universe is friendly if we are; that although the sun may set on some of our hopes, the sun also rises; and that, if we do our best, in the words of Danny Kaye, “things will usually work out (but not always).”
Speaking of things not always working out, you may be wondering at this point whether I was right to be optimistic about the life of my paper. Well, yes and no. The 11th-hour sale to a prospective buyer that I was counting on never came off. The paper closed, as the pessimists had predicted.
But while midnight may have proved them right, I was optimistic to the end, and my happy world stayed standing several hours longer than theirs.
(George Plagenz is a syndicated columnist.)