Pessimists are the Greatest Inventors

What's so wrong if I am pessimistic? Oh yez, the dictionary says something like ‘a pessimist is a person who believes that bad things are more likely to happen than good things.’ So what? Aren’t bad things happening anyway all around you even if you are super duper optimistic?

Lately, I am tempted to think that the word ‘pessimism’ and all its derivatives are misnomers, invented just for the heck of having antonyms of optimism. Wait, ‘optimism’ itself becomes funny now. OK, lets assume these words are very much valid without which human existence itself would be threatened. Yes, without pessimists in our midst, the world would be a really shitty landmine.

Let me define an optimist and a pessimist, ‘an optimist is a person who sits idle assuming that everything would be alright in the end, and a pessimist is a person who thinks something bad will happen that he/she does something to prevent the unforeseen bad from happening.’ Hmmm, not impressed? Read on….

No optimists would have invented the parachute. An optimist would have gone on thinking that everything would be OK. I can vouch, a hardcore pessimist invented the parachute to make the invention of fighter crafts and helicopters complete. Pilots should be thankful to this pessimistic inventor whoever he may be.

Now, won’t you agree that bullet proof could have been invented by some pessimist? The inventive ideas of life jacket for sailors, helmet for bikers, seat belt for cars, anti landmine vehicles, etc, took shape in the heads of pessimists.

I can’t go on counting all the possibilities for you, you too do the counting. Here, we have another need to reserve a day in a year to celebrate it as “Pessimism Day.” Not a bad idea!!! Need to learn the art of being a pessimist once in a while.