Optimism

Last December, Jacky Laurin offered this reading as part of the youth group's presentation to the congregation.  It is deeply insightful and I wanted to share it with you here. A portion of the documentary film Home and the music video, Waiting on the World to Change, were also shared during the service.

When is it the right time to be a pessimist? Shouldn’t it never exist? Shouldn’t we always be optimistic?
But I say all must be present. There is not one without the other.
Here is an analogy.
You may need to be pessimists sometimes, but just don’t live there.
The house of pessimism is a maze, and one can easily get lost in it, if they refuse to open there eyes as they go through it.
Pessimism allows us to see the potential dangers.
But we can’t live in that house, we need to just visit.

We will remain lost in this house as long as we refuse to look at what is.
And I think that that is where we are today. We are lost in the maze.

We need to open our eyes. We need to label the walls. And we need to accept what is. Only then does the house of pessimism transform into a house of realism. We need to look in and label the walls.
Only then can we walk through the maze with acceptance, and our eyes fully opened.
Only then can an arrow appear at the end of the hallway, an arrow that will lead us to the house of optimism. And the house will transform into something new. The maze will disappear and a path will open up to us. Only then can we create.
 
But life works in cycles and you may find yourself at another maze. And the cycle needs to start again. Be clear see the maze, label the walls, accept what is and find the arrows. 

This is not only true of our environment, but it is also true of our relationships, and our way of interacting in the world.