Optimism

Are we generally optimistic about the future? Do we have reason to be? I’d say most people see no future. They’re pessimistic and it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. If enough people see the future in that negative way, our collective consciousness will self-destruct. Maybe we won’t be around to see it happen … but ….
Is this ‘pessimism’ why we don’t care about repairing things properly now? If so, isn’t that spectacularly selfish of us, as well as bad karma? And who wants to be selfish? It’s so unattractive. We seek pleasure in life and it seems there’s plenty to be had. Why not make hay while the sun shines? The thought of tightening our belts and imposing personal disciplines isn’t a pleasant idea.
What we’d prefer to do is simply coast along. But the warnings of systems-collapse are everywhere. Our ecosystems, our economy and our ethics are going downhill rapidly. We know something has to be done. To ignore all the warnings seems crazy and we know it won’t be appreciated by people who come after us. They’ll say we didn’t address our problems because we didn’t care enough and that’s the ultimate put-down. But how can they ever know what we went through? How can they know why we are no longer optimistic?