What good is it to understand how disappointing humans are, that the changes you hope for in the world probably won’t be realized, or that in the end almost nothing matters as death overtakes everyone anyway?
It’s no good.
None at all.
“We must be the change we wish to see in the world,” says Gandhi. And indeed we must. If the decision is made that things cannot improve, that world is simultaneously realized in the lack of motivation to even hope for improvement. And if that hope, when it is there, isn’t more than a feeling – if it isn’t an action, a movement, a way of life – there is no use for it.
Idealism isn’t simply foolishness or naiveté, but rather commitment to hope. Without such an optimistic outlook on life, the world surely would have killed itself by now. We owe much to the optimistic few.
I will never be an idealist. However, I think it’s realistic to say that the world needs all kinds of people, however impractical their suggestions might seem.
And though realism holds that I recognize the shortcomings of humanity, it also holds that I recognize the strengths.
I think idealism is a strength.
One that I wish I had.
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