Pessimism

I’m sometimes accused of being a pessimist. I don’t mind the accusation, since it’s usually levied around some topic in which pessimism seems the only rational outlook, insofar as that means I see a given trend as leading toward greater struggle and lesser quality of life for a critical mass of people — or at least people I may care about more than others. I’m personally not interested in optimism and pessimism as descriptors of permanent disposition. One should wear these things situationally and be prepared to shift between them quickly.

But many others do drape themselves in one or the other as a general expression of their outlook. People who consider themselves dispositional “optimists” might be more often pleasant than “pessimists,” and more likely to self-identify along those lines. In my experience they are more enjoyable to be around. But they’re also the kind of people prone to be useless in crisis situations, since such situations require searching for the leader indicators of disasters. Avoiding them if possible, mitigating them if not, and if need be accepting the end result with some sprit of dignity as the “optimistic” turn to panic — which they do because they weren’t able to see the disaster gradually. The optimists tend to experience crisis all of a sudden.

It's said the when Joseph Bell, the chief engineer of the Titanic, was shown the state of the hulls for the first time after the ship hit the iceberg, he knew the score. The ship was going down. He was not a “pessimist” for this. He simply knew the situation and what the likelihood was for it to go a certain way, and his quick grasp of this allowed him to not only convey the nature of the problem to the ship’s crew in manner the urged immediate action (the extent to which they listened is still debated), but he was able to steel himself for what was coming. Bell died that night on the Titanic, not trying to keep the ship from sinking but rather by working to keep the lights on so that distress signals would have a greater chance at attracting attention. Witnesses said that he and his fellow engineers went to the main deck as the ship began its final descent, where they met their death with quiet dignity, having done all they could.

If Bell had been more “optimistic” he may have ordered more investigations of the ship’s hulls, asked for data and opinions until he got one with a rosier prognosis. Perhaps even suggested to Captain Smith that the ship speed up since they could still make that record time if a few things went their way. It would have been wasted effort. The ship was going down, and energy was better spent trying to lessen the extent of the disaster as best you can given the realities — and perhaps strengthening your soul for the descent.