Somewhat Damaged

Current political events have got me thinking about idealism, which is never a good topic for me.  I get it, I appreciate it, and I hate it.  I also don’t relate to it and never really have, so I don’t have the same long-term connection to it that others do.  Children are generally pretty idealistic (and incredibly mean) creatures, but I was never particularly optimistic (though I was mean.)  And please realize that not being optimistic does not make one a pessimist by default.  Those are opposites, not an either/or scenario.

Adult idealism is cute in it’s way, and it certainly has it’s uses.  I’d say the arts in particular have a need for chimerical thinking.  But blind faith and idealism is so remarkably easy and servile that there is no firm grasp on reality.  Idealism in politics, religion, or sports are so pervasive that you would almost believe they are fact based.  This is not to say that your politics, religion, or sporting affiliations are only a product of misguided idealism.  But it does mean that many adherents to your politics, religion, or sporting affiliations are guided by idiotic idealism.  And idiotic is the proper term for idealism when you get to be, I don’t know, an adult.

People want to hope for the best, to believe that good always wins.  This is apparent in our novels, our movies, and in the stories of our lives that we tend to share.  People like parables, they like to have meaning.  So do I, by the way.  I just compartmentalize entertainment away from reality.  The power of positive thinking is nothing more than mental masturbation.  This is all well and good in its place, just don’t place it everywhere.  The world is primarily grey, there is very little black and even less white.

I know that I tend to attack people’s paradigms, and for no reason other than I can.  On a Wiggin scale I’d probably be more Peter than Valentine (which would make me what?)  It’s a fault that won’t change, and I won’t apologize for something that I cannot control.  But in many instances, I think that I’m right to do such a thing, though not necessarily in such a hurtful manner.  People tend to have faith in their hopes, and that often leads to tragic mistakes.  When you follow a belief for the sake of the belief, you can never build the foundation to hold it up.  Belief has value as a beacon, but not an action.

Not to say that realists don’t make mistakes, we just make a different kind.  I’m simply less aggravated by the arrogant mistakes of people who think they know what’s best based on what they know, rather than the arrogant mistakes of people who believe they know what’s best because of what they hope.  Both ends of the spectrum are damaged, I’ll admit.  I just would hope more people would aim for the middle.  I’ve always thought being somewhat damaged is the appropriate goal.