[just a short post as I get ready for a busy couple of weeks]

Today I met with a guy who came off as a huge cynic, or at least someone who doesn’t appreciate the world for what it is, but is dissatisfied with much of it.  It was a very interesting chat to hear about his point of view and how he sees himself as an optimist.  To him, the world could be so much better, but it isn’t, which is why he claims he’s an optimist.  However, I see that more as a harsh critic.  After all, he never provided any solutions or ideas for how to make things better then.  Instead, he dissed what he didn’t like and spoke eagerly about what he did (New Yorkers’ no-nonsense way of life).

I was put off by his negativity at first, but found it interesting to hear his view on things.  To some extent, he brought out the critic in me and I told him some of the things that bothered me.  Ultimately though, I’m a positive person and I don’t go around sullying everyone’s moods.  I can see why he considers himself an optimist, but I don’t think he is.  a true optimist would think we can do so much more and come up with ways to do it because he’d believe in our ability to accomplish such tasks.

At the same time, I felt intrigued to try to understand his complex character more.  It was refreshing to have someone challenge your way of thinking and your opinions so much though.  Another interesting thought that came up was how he doesn’t hide his gripes with the world and feels that people who see problems but are still happy are insincere.  I didn’t believe that and felt that though there are things I am not happy about, that doesn’t mean I’m going to spend my days pointing out all that bothers me.  I spent some time afterwards considering why I didn’t feel that incongruency was not a bad thing.  I’m still not quite sure how to put all these ideas into the right words, so I’ll get back to you when I have.