An End To Pessimism

1964:

For over sixty years vegan activists have been forming teams of animal advocates, each working to stop the animal slave trade. We are doing it by persuading others and setting an example by boycotting the animal-abuse industry.

What we do is done in the spirit of optimism, helping each other drop our ingrained pessimism It is based on the classic negative idea that whatever we do won’t even scratch the surface, so we might as well just carry on doing what we’ve always done, and save us the bother of all that effort needed to change whole habits.

The optimist aims only to do what we can do - we change to eco-friendly light globes, recycle newspapers, support organic farming (if we can afford to) and, most importantly, eat plant-based foods. Everything we do in this way is valuable, but if we think that what we do “won’t make a scrap of difference to the world”, then we’re doomed before we’ve even started. If we can drop our pessimism, we’re more likely to avert Earth’s downfall.

If optimism is to become something more than just a nice idea, it must be substantial enough to carry us over the tough spots. It must be measured not by personal success but on its contributive value to the greater good, with our own interests put second. Then nothing can possibly go wrong.