I passionately want the President of the United States to succeed and our economy to recover.
As I have mentioned before, in this respect I am an optimist, and I celebrate every gain by our markets, “regardless of how small or fleeting,” and I look for every sign, no matter how miniscule, that our economy is in fact improving.
That is the reason I am exuberant today.
Wall Street rallied for a third straight day in a row. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was way up—closing up a decent 216 points. There were other good economic indicators, such as new factory orders. These rose 1.8 percent in February, the first monthly gain in six months.
We are getting some very encouraging news out of the G-20 Summit meetings: World leaders agreed to pump an additional $1.1 trillion into the global economy, in the form of additional loans and loan guarantees; to implement accounting rule changes aimed at giving banks flexibility when dealing with toxic assets; etc.
I know that tomorrow the market may tank (again); that tomorrow we may get some negative economic news; that tomorrow those who want our economy to fail may have reasons to celebrate.
I know that we have a heck of a long way to go, an awful lot of work to do, before we can totally fix the damage our economy has sustained over a long period of time.
But today is my day. Please allow me to do something you haven’t seen Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity do when the markets are up: Celebrate.
I am not an alcoholic, nor do I have any other addictions—thank God.
But I believe that I can empathize with those who are, and I fully understand their valiant “one day at a time” efforts towards recovery.
Just as they have to be optimistic and hopeful about their future, so must we be about America’s future—one day at the time.
Having said all this, and before others do, let me shoot myself down—a little bit.
TIME magazine had a superb article on this very subject last week.
It is titled, “A Primer for Pessimists,” and it starts as follows: “Yes, you can learn to see every silver lining—and be happier—even if you’re born a cynic.”
While the article praises optimism—“[it] is associated with a happier and longer life”—it also offers some caveats:
Most people would define optimism as being eternally hopeful, endlessly happy, with a glass that’s perpetually half full. But that’s exactly the kind of deluded cheerfulness that positive psychologists wouldn’t recommend. “Healthy optimism means being in touch with reality,” says Tal Ben-Shahar, a Harvard professor…”It certainly doesn’t mean being Pollyannaish and thinking everything is great and wonderful.”
Ben-Shahar describes realistic optimists as “optimalists”–not those who believe everything happens for the best, but those who make the best of things that happen.
OK, so I may not be an “optimalist” in the strictest sense of the (new) word. Although I am trying to make “the best of things that happen,” by being optimistic about this economy.
If you call this circular logic, you may be right. But that’s part of being an optimist.
But, please don’t let my optimism keep you from reading the rest of Alice Park’s very interesting article, which has some excellent suggestions on how to, well, be an “optimalist” in the first place, but also:
* How to accept pain and sadness
* How to cope with failure
* Why you should surround yourself with happy people
* Whether optimism can be taught
The author concludes:
The thing about being optimistic, though, is that it takes hard work–and that’s a drag. It’s an active process, say psychologists, through which you force yourself to see your life a certain way. Indeed, the leading optimism and happiness experts consider themselves born pessimists. But if they have learned over time and with lots of practice to become more hopeful, take heart. So can you. (Emphasis mine)
I’d be interested to learn—after you read the entire article—whether you see the (economic) glass half full or half empty. But, more important, whether you are an “optimist” or an “optimalist” about our economy.
