The 3 Types
As I see it, there are 3 distinct categories of people in this world; The Pessimists, the Optimists and the Optimistic Pessimists. Now, I realize that most people will not fit the mold exactly, but without these broad classifications, we would end up with millions of specific ones. In fact, we’d probably have a different category for every person on the planet if we tried to be specific. So please understand that I am not saying you are one of these categories. I am only saying that most people will tend to be more distinctly one over another, but not necessarily purely one type.
The Pessimists are not fun people to hang around with. “Life’s bad, we know it, and we’re going to find everything that is going to go bad.” The Pessimists never seem to have much fun because they realize that in the end we’re all just going to die anyways. “Life’s tough so we have no right to be frivolous and happy. We should all just work and die in the end like everyone else does.”
So we agree that pure Pessimists are not fun people to be around. They’re always depressed and never seem to have any fun. Give a Pessimist a dollar and he’ll complain that the Yen is worth more or some other such argument.
The Optimists are on a completely different spectrum from the Pessimists. They see the good in everything. “Nothing is ever bad. All is right with the world.” Optimists find life to be an enjoyable experience and expect nothing but the best from everything.
There is a story I heard that perfectly contrasts the Optimist and the Pessimist and it goes like this. “Some psychologists were studying the way the mind works. One day they did a grand experiment with two children. One of these children was a Pessimist and never seemed to be happy. The other was an Optimist and always seemed to find the best in any situation. Well, the psychologists thought they’d place each in a different environment. They placed the Pessimist in a room full of toys. Every toy imaginable. All the different playthings in the world in one room, all for him. As for the Optimist, they placed him in a room knee deep in fresh manure. Then, they waited for a time and returned to see how the children reacted.
The Pessimistic child was found sitting in a corner looking glum. When asked why he wasn’t happy or playing with all the toys he told them, ‘I’d just break them eventually anyways… What’s the point?’
When they opened the door into the room with the Optimistic child, they found manure all over the walls. The Optimist was covered in the filth and was flinging it left and right with all his might. When asked what he was doing, the Optimistic child replied, ‘With this much manure, there has to be a pony in here somewhere!’”
While humorous, that story still gives a very good description of Optimists and Pessimists. But, I say that there is one more category that should be added, the Optimistic Pessimist. Now, you’re probably saying that if there is an Optimistic Pessimist that there has to be a Pessimistic Optimist. Not so. An Optimistic Pessimist is someone who realizes that life is bad, but decide to be happy regardless. A Pessimistic Optimist would then be someone who felt all of life was one big happy trip and that they should therefore be glum and depressed. I have another word for those kinds of people, and that word is “crazy”.
An Optimistic Pessimist tends to realize, like the Pessimist, that life is horrible and hurtful and depressing. But, instead of naturally reacting to that with depression and hopelessness, they decide to accept their fate and face it with a smile. They make the worst situation seem bright, not because they think it isn’t a bad situation like an Optimist would, but because they have decided to be happy about it anyways.
In the story I told, if an Optimistic Pessimist were to be placed in the room full of toys, I believe he would play with the toys and when asked why would say, “Well, I know I’m going to break them eventually, so I might as well use them now!” If placed in the room of manure, however, I see the Optimistic Pessimist smiling and being thankful that the manure wasn’t over his head.
In conclusion, I feel that as Christians we should tend towards either the Optimist or the Optimistic Pessimist. We know we have a Savior in heaven and that we are going to be there with Him someday, so we have no reason to be like the Pessimist and finding everything wrong with the world when we know everything’s going to be all right. As an Optimist, we should see the whole world as God’s gift to man (and woman for political correctness, even though I use the term man as in mankind as in humans), and try to live our lives in a way that would give our joy to everyone we meet. Or, we should be more like Optimistic Pessimists and realize that nothing in this world is going to work out how we planned it, but that we have a God Who cares, so we should just grin and bear it because we know that God is in control.
The Pessimists are not fun people to hang around with. “Life’s bad, we know it, and we’re going to find everything that is going to go bad.” The Pessimists never seem to have much fun because they realize that in the end we’re all just going to die anyways. “Life’s tough so we have no right to be frivolous and happy. We should all just work and die in the end like everyone else does.”
So we agree that pure Pessimists are not fun people to be around. They’re always depressed and never seem to have any fun. Give a Pessimist a dollar and he’ll complain that the Yen is worth more or some other such argument.
The Optimists are on a completely different spectrum from the Pessimists. They see the good in everything. “Nothing is ever bad. All is right with the world.” Optimists find life to be an enjoyable experience and expect nothing but the best from everything.
There is a story I heard that perfectly contrasts the Optimist and the Pessimist and it goes like this. “Some psychologists were studying the way the mind works. One day they did a grand experiment with two children. One of these children was a Pessimist and never seemed to be happy. The other was an Optimist and always seemed to find the best in any situation. Well, the psychologists thought they’d place each in a different environment. They placed the Pessimist in a room full of toys. Every toy imaginable. All the different playthings in the world in one room, all for him. As for the Optimist, they placed him in a room knee deep in fresh manure. Then, they waited for a time and returned to see how the children reacted.
The Pessimistic child was found sitting in a corner looking glum. When asked why he wasn’t happy or playing with all the toys he told them, ‘I’d just break them eventually anyways… What’s the point?’
When they opened the door into the room with the Optimistic child, they found manure all over the walls. The Optimist was covered in the filth and was flinging it left and right with all his might. When asked what he was doing, the Optimistic child replied, ‘With this much manure, there has to be a pony in here somewhere!’”
While humorous, that story still gives a very good description of Optimists and Pessimists. But, I say that there is one more category that should be added, the Optimistic Pessimist. Now, you’re probably saying that if there is an Optimistic Pessimist that there has to be a Pessimistic Optimist. Not so. An Optimistic Pessimist is someone who realizes that life is bad, but decide to be happy regardless. A Pessimistic Optimist would then be someone who felt all of life was one big happy trip and that they should therefore be glum and depressed. I have another word for those kinds of people, and that word is “crazy”.
An Optimistic Pessimist tends to realize, like the Pessimist, that life is horrible and hurtful and depressing. But, instead of naturally reacting to that with depression and hopelessness, they decide to accept their fate and face it with a smile. They make the worst situation seem bright, not because they think it isn’t a bad situation like an Optimist would, but because they have decided to be happy about it anyways.
In the story I told, if an Optimistic Pessimist were to be placed in the room full of toys, I believe he would play with the toys and when asked why would say, “Well, I know I’m going to break them eventually, so I might as well use them now!” If placed in the room of manure, however, I see the Optimistic Pessimist smiling and being thankful that the manure wasn’t over his head.
In conclusion, I feel that as Christians we should tend towards either the Optimist or the Optimistic Pessimist. We know we have a Savior in heaven and that we are going to be there with Him someday, so we have no reason to be like the Pessimist and finding everything wrong with the world when we know everything’s going to be all right. As an Optimist, we should see the whole world as God’s gift to man (and woman for political correctness, even though I use the term man as in mankind as in humans), and try to live our lives in a way that would give our joy to everyone we meet. Or, we should be more like Optimistic Pessimists and realize that nothing in this world is going to work out how we planned it, but that we have a God Who cares, so we should just grin and bear it because we know that God is in control.
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