Helen Keller's Essay On Optimism

“Once I knew the depth where no hope was, and darkness lay on the face of all things.… But a little word from the fingers of another fell into my hand that clutched at emptiness, and my heart leaped to the rapture of living….Can any one who has escaped such captivity, who has felt the thrill and glory of freedom, be a pessimist?” This is a quote by Helen Keller from her essay on optimism. Helen was born both deaf and blind. For years, she could only communicate through a few gestures. No one cared to try to teach or discipline her. Then one day, a woman named Annie Sullivan heard about Helen and was determined to teach her. She tried tirelessly to teach the child the names of different things, but Helen could not understand that everything had

Optimism is the action of seeking the hope that lies in every situation. The hope is like gold or a valuable gem. It may be resting on the surface, or it may be buried deep down. Either way, if one does not actively seek it, it may never be found. Helen Keller wrote, “Most people measure their happiness in terms of physical pleasure and material possession….If happiness is to be so measured, I who cannot hear or see have every reason to sit in a corner with folded hands and weep….Only by contact with evil could I have learned to feel by contrast the beauty of truth and love and goodness.” However, there is a such thing as too much optimism. Helen Keller also explained this when she wrote, “It is a mistake always to contemplate the good and ignore the evil because by making people neglectful it lets in disaster….This is false optimism. A man must understand evil and be acquainted with sorrow before he can write himself an optimist and expect others to believe that he has reason for the faith that is in him.” A German theologian named Jurgen Moltmann backs this up by stating, “Genuine hope is not blind optimism. It is hope with open eyes, which sees the suffering and yet believes in the