Did you notify my way To hide a wonder why I've touched this place before, So we're in another time Now I can hear the sound The clouds drifting through the blidge A half a million thoughts Are flowing through my mind
Devon, the ultimate pessimist, the most cynical creature to walk the earth, sits next to me in chemistry. Our personalities clash somewhat dreadfully. Ilana, who is supposed to be on my side, laughs at his crude jokes that doom human nature for eternity. I've taken to swiveling my chair backwards (the science lecture hall has super-cool chairs) to face Vivian and Jesse and risk getting yelled at rather than listen to Devon's endless comments about humanities stupidity. I'm an optimist, I'm friendly, I have faith in my generation, I don't think his egotistical cracks at other people are in any way funny. They're terrible, in fact. I asked Devon if he has ever had a good day. Ever. He said "Good question. I'll think about it." Come on! All of my days are good, most at least. I have great days, and okay days, but hardly are down right BAD. Even in my SAT class which had me on the verge of tears for three hours straight did I think I was having a bad day. Devon would have exploded in that class. I won't have a bad day when Emily leaves for Princeton because she'll be excited. The day that I fail several tests in a row won't be horrible, because I know that I'll do better, and it's not the end of the world. When Mr. Albritton has to go over electron affinity 8 different times in 51 minutes won't force be to spew offensive sneers at questioning classmates. Devon, what am I to do with you?
Some people complain that optimisum is the opiate of life- if you go along thinking everything will be better, you're just making things easier to live with. I don't see the world through rose-colored glasses, I must say. I know that our planet will very soon be destroyed by polutants, I know every day a suicide bomber kills kids on a bus, I know that US forces are probably abusing captives still, I know AIDS is higher than the sky in so many places, I know that most people don't care and still won't in 5, 10, 20, 50 years. BUT, being an optimist, I think we can fix it. Do pessimists, these "glass-half-empty" folks, just dwell on the bad? How do they get up in the morning?
