A friend of mine, Anita, posted this on facebook and I found it intriguing:
It made me think about just what Hope and Optimism mean and how I think of them. I looked up the definitions and found that optimism was described as:
"a disposition or tendency to look on the more favorable sideof events or conditions and to expect the most favorable outcome.The belief that good ultimately predominates over evil in the world. The belief that goodness pervades reality."
Hope is defined as:
"the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best: 'to give up hope A person or thing in which expectations are centered: 'The medicine was her last hope'. Something that is hoped for: Her forgiveness is my constant hope."
And while I think it's cheating to use the word in the definition, I couldn't help but see that all the definitions of hope seemed to use rather hope-less examples. Yet, optimism's definitions were, how ironic, optimistic! But, I was interested because one of the definitions for optimism is that good ultimately predominates over evil which I say is misclassified as optimism and should actually fall under hope.
Our hope in humanity, in our difficult circumstances, in deliverance from the evil and violence that surround us is that...as Christians...we know the end of the story. Hope is given to us by a Creator who promises justice, restoration, redemption, love and much more. Hope enables us to act now - without fear - to bring about restoration, love to those who need it most, justice for those who are cast aside in culture which in turn is hope to those deeply searching for it.
Optimism is the power to choose that the rain that is indeed flooding your summer wedding will "soon go away". That all will clear up and be well. Hope has deeper things to ponder.
this is so interesting i just had to comment. because i disagree &i feel that hope is a state of being and optimism is a way of life. i think that people can be optimistic and it is much deeper than hope, yet when you say that a greater being gives us hope, that really rings true in my ear, also. i feel like people hope when there is a reason to. being optimistic, however may or may not come by choice, but is more ingrained in our personality (which is shaped by the things we experience).
ReplyDeletei also think that hope may be situational feeling. you may have hope that when you run out of gas a helpful person will give you a ride to the gas station and back, or one may be optimistic that their efforts to help the planet will make a difference.
but i don't know if in either of these situations it would necessarily be unacceptable to switch hope for optimistic or vice versa.
i know that you didn't necessarily ask your readers of their opinion, but this seemed like a conversation we might have in person if we still lived down the street from one another.
hugs &kisses
trees
Interesting...! And the part where you say that those situations could easily switch "hope" and "optimism", I think, shows the whole point of thinking about hope and optimism. Because they seem to be inter-changable and is there a difference? Do they mean the same? That's why I was so intrigued by Anita's question!
ReplyDeleteAnd...any post is always welcoming readers to respond...I love comments and i love discussions.
And I wish we were down the street from one another again...this would be a good conversation over a cup of tea in front of your fireplace. :)