Yes. I am known to be a very, super-optimistic sort. Maybe fiercely optimistic, but you know, sometimes that pose is revealed to be silly & naive, even to me.
Inadequate to the tragedies that surround us. What tragedies?
You know, Climate Catastrophe, human irrationality & stupidity, and of course, Death. Common, near & far, every day Death. Those are subjects with no good come-backs. Difficult to rationalize, minimize, or work around.
So yeah, hard, dead-stop limits.
Even a defiant, contrarian, always sunny optimism bumps up against an immovable black wall of doom & gloom. If I am the Doom-Slayer, and I think I am, it comes naturally, my default mode, the last optimistic human in a sea of doom; I'd say my shield is bent and falling to pieces, and my sword is dull and tarnished, it just doesn't cut like it used to.
Yeah. What's a humbled Doom-Slayer to do? Put down the shield and sword, pull in one's horns. Make a necessary retreat. Spend some time renewing, refreshing, recharging. Still optimistic to a fault, but that optimism is closely held, burning inside. Let the gloom & doom wash over everything. Let it come down. Wait to reveal a blazing, sunny optimism another day. Like they say, "hope dies last." I mean, I hope so.
