A Handful of Optimism
Despite race, religion, sex, or age the world can be divided into two different groups. Those who see the glass as being half full and those who see the glass as being half empty. In other words, being either that of an optimist or a pessimist. Though a simple question, often times people find it difficult to answer. Just when one thinks they have decided that they are one or the other, they come across a song, poem, or an experience that makes them reevaluate the mind frame from that which they have normally embraced. T. S. Eliot’s famous quote from The Waste Land, "I can show you fear in a handful of dust," is one that has been the trigger, for many, in this self-evaluation process (1.30)
Quite often, people do not participate or embrace this process of self-evaluation. Yet, it is these people who throw around phrases like ‘carpe diem’ and ‘don’t put off tomorrow, what you can do today’ when they are doing just the opposite. In the mind frame of a pessimist, one gets so wrapped up in the fact that they might die, that they miss out on living. The bottom line is that death is inevitable. A topic that Eliot discusses when referring to Phlebas’s death by water:
"Gentile or Jew
O you who turn the wheel and look to windward,
Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you" (4.319-321).
In short Eliot was trying to say that one needs to learn from those who have gone on before them, and know they too will take a similar journey in life and death. It is this knowledge that is probably the driving force of the optimist. They know that they are going to die and choose to make the most out of their life. Though most people have at one point or another have had a fear of dying and been p...
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...if one spends their whole life being jealous of others, then they will have lost the opportunity to live their own life. So, as the Beatles once said "Let it be." Maddy provides an example of this when Ade turns out to be the successful one while Santigie fails his exams and is envious of Ade. Whether it be in school, with friends, or in sports, it matters not what exams one passes in life. The truth is that one does not linger in the past or anticipate the future, but rather one lives in the present and accepts life as it comes for the good and the bad with a handful of optimism.
Works Consulted
Eliot, T. S. The Waste Land, Prufock, and Other Poems. New York: Dover, 1998.
Life Application Study Bible. Trans. New International Version. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Maddy, Yulisa Amadu. No Past, No Present, No Future. 1973. , Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann-Reed, 1996.
"Matthew." Serendipity Bible for Groups: New International Version. 3rd ed. Ed. Lyman Coleman. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1998. 1326-1377.
Overall, dwell on this process of changing throughout the poem, it can be understood that the poet is demonstrating a particular attitude towards life. Everyone declines and dies eventually, but it would be better to embrace an optimistic, opened mind than a pessimistic, giving-up attitude; face the approach of death unflinchingly, calmly.
Through many writers’ works the correlation of mortality and love of life is strongly enforced. This connection is one that is easy to illustrate and easy to grasp because it is experienced by humans daily. For instance, when a loved one passes away, even though there is time for mourning, there is also an immediate appreciation for one’s life merely because they are living. In turn, the correspondence of mortality and a stronger love for life is also evident in every day life when things get hard and then one is confronted by some one else whom has an even bigger problem, then making the original problem seem minute. This is seen as making the bad look worse so then the bad looks good and the good looks even better. The connection of mortality and one’s love for life is seen in both T.S. Eliot’s The Wasteland and Yulisa Amadu Maddy’s No Past No Present No Future.
“Is your glass haft empty or haft full?” This saying perfectly describes what optimism opposed to pessimism is. Some people always see their glass haft empty, others haft full. The majority of people see their glass haft full some days and on other days haft empty. Our outlook on life is intimately related to the situation we are in and whether or not we believe we can get through the hard times. In the play A raison in the sun certain characters are more optimistic than others. Some of them are always optimistic whereas others have their ups and downs. Sometimes they are optimistic and on other days they are not.
...hoices, Eliot shows the opposite outcome of depression and regret from a lifetime of indecision. Whether it is a far-away land of fantastical beings, the woods down the street, or perhaps the nearest city, a journey will always yield a different experience, and indecision is just as much a decision as any other. Choosing to remain inactive in a world that calls for action is to choose to grow old and have nothing of substance to look back on, since nothing was ever done.
Traditions are like a two-edged sword. They can be very powerful and helpful or they can be very hurtful and painful. Traditions gain momentum with each passing year, and in many cases they become difficult or impossible to stop. In “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson uses situation irony, suspense, and dialogue to show that some groups of people have traditions they do not want to end, even if there is no reason for the tradition.
BibleGateway.com -. Web. The Web. The Web. 14 Mar. 2014.
Douglas Stuart, Exodus, NAC, vol. 2 (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, (2006), 20. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.
5. Destiny Ministries. "Yes, I Believe in God" Challenge Forty Day Assignment Journal. September 20, 1999.
“River Restoration Project Offers a Sprinkle of Hope” by Daniel Weintraub published by the Sacramento Bee provides strong ethos, logos, and pathos argument for the project. The Sacramento bee located in Sacramento, California's capital city, where big businesses and where the importance lies with politics. City folks take time out of their day to read another hot topic from the Sacramento Bee. Daniel Weintraub born, and raised in San Diego, California, and lived with seven siblings. Daniel studied at San Diego University to get an economics degree and now spends his life in Northern California. This proves that Daniel knows the project he discusses. Daniel worked hard to become exceptionally credible and aware of the cause, and effect the
Winston S. Churchill once said that, “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty”. This statement is true; a huge percentage of people say more than once in their lifetime that something is impossible. Some people, however, find ways to achieve their initial goal. Pessimism roots from the Nature vs. Nurture theory, in which it proposes that how parents raise an individual morally could alter due to the exposure to the environment. If a parent or parents raise that individual to not pursue a goal that seems difficult, it is likely that they will be pessimistic. It also applies if an individual approaches an obstacle and they deal with it by not believing in themselves. This applies
Many people find it hard to imagine their death as there are so many questions to be answered-how will it happen, when, where and what comes next. The fact that our last days on Earth is unknown makes the topic of death a popular one for most poets who looks to seek out their own emotions. By them doing that it helps the reader make sense of their own emotions as well. In the two poems “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickenson and “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” by Dylan Thomas, the poets are both capturing their emotion about death and the way that they accepted it. In Dickenson’s poem her feelings towards death are more passionate whereas in Dylan’s poem the feelings
Barker, Kenneth L.. Zondervan NIV study Bible: New International Version. 2008 update. ed. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2008. Print.
...s that one must accept the possibility of one's own death before he can truly appreciate what he has on earth, as the sobering awareness that one day, it will all be out of reach, prompts the urge to appreciate and value what one can have only for a limited period of time, and to use every moment of that time doing something that one will not regret when the bird sings its last note.
The final sentence also multiplies in meaning, reiterating the theme of the poem that the search for perfection is a process only ending in death. On one level, the speaker wishes for his own death in order to end this tiring process. On another, higher level, the speaker wishes for the death of Christ, for, ultimately, it is in Christ’s death that true satisfaction can occur. Eliot also emphasises the speaker’s doubt over the Death and Rebirth in the poem, using "should," which suggests both that he indeed "wants" another death in order to bring about spiritual renewal and that he "ought" to be happy with another death, but is not certain that he would be happy after his experience with the first death.