Monday, April 24, 2006

week 17: optimist + skeptic

Oh, come on Amazon. Why the hell was this in my Gold Box? That's the sort of thing that makes me wonder if I ever want to do business with them again.

I don't have anything that's specifically work or industry-related today. However, a couple weeks ago, I told a colleague that I was secretly an optimist in addition to fairly obviously being a skeptic. The reaction was one of mirth and generally disbelief that those two ideas could be reconciled. That and the severe doubt that I was even an optimist.

Admittedly, I don't necessarily project the most optimistic image all the time. But if you read between the lines and pick up on the sarcasm and dark humor, then there is a definite optimistic bent to what I say and do. Besides, if I wasn't an optimist, would I be able to laugh at almost everything?

As for whether a skeptic can be an optimist, I feel that it's fairly obvious that those are two very reconcilable ideas. In short, I'm a skeptic since I want to see evidence of whether something is true and I'm an optimist because I believe things can and will get better. Which things? Pretty much everything.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am a closet optimist.

Anonymous said...

I am an openly rosy skeptic.