on Valence

The miracle of optimism and pessimism, collectively, is that both of them work. Call it the self-fulfilling prophecy. The pessimist, when caught in a situation where he (or she) is called upon to rely upon others, will presume that the others in question will let him down. Perhaps the pessimist is self-serving in nature; then, he will think that others will be the same when he needs them. Or he is charitable by nature; then, he will assume a Nice Guys Finish Last philosophy. The pessimist is not looking through jaundiced eyes, as some may have you believe: he is looking upon the negative past experiences he has helped to create.

The optimist operates much in the same way. He will give his adversary the opportunity to do something good, and when faced with such an opportunity, one is more likely than not to take it. So, when faced with adversity, the optimist will often find a most positive result.

But the greatest Justice between the optimist and the pessimist comes when the two collide. We still live in an era of limited resources, and the vast majority of conflicts arise when we have more needs than resources. The optimist will, perhaps naively, stride forth with the expectation that the resources will be volunteered to him. The resources may not be there for the both of them but the pessimist, realizing this, will not compete for the resources, and will surrender them to the optimist.

The result is a win-win situation: the optimist gets the resources he needs, and the pessimist gets the results for which he aims.