Optimism When Things are Easy is a Sham
Given the larger picture, belief in democracy is only slightly more delusional than the guy playing slots so he can pay his rent. The odds are astronomically against success and yet the choice to persevere is made.
![I Believe… [Optimism is a Choice]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/579fa3912994ca0eff850271/1562948713832-KK3LGJN50L7TDG5H6Z3K/ibelieve....jpg)
I Believe… [Optimism is a Choice]
...that, at some point, you must choose whether or not to see your past as the glory days or see your future as the best days to come. That choice will determine how bitter or optimistic you become as you grow older.
An Exercise in Exorcising
I don’t have time to be writing for free right now. That’s correct, Dear Reader (which sounds like how a Japanese person would say “Dear Leader” if they were kidnapped and brain washed by North Korea and taught only to speak English, and if I was being racist), I don’t get paid writing for Literate Ape. Or editing or publishing or hosting or podcasting or anything else related to The Ape. When it comes to this little project, I pay it in blood and guts and sweat and joy. And the hope or goal is that that soon enough, with enough skin in the game, Literate Ape will pay me. But for now, I have to make money doing work for other people. And I’m on a deadline. Several of them.
The Best Goddamn Salad You’ve Ever Eaten or Go Hungry
Gang, while a cliché, it is so true that life is relatively short. When, at fifty-three, I can see how fragile things are, how quickly the wakening up to the world is snuffed out on a continual basis, I comprehend a simple truth: if you can’t muster a white hot passion for the people and the world around you, that short life is a prison. I’m not a big fan of prison, so I prefer to Carpé that fucking Diem and eat the ass out of life.
How Progress Wins: Recalling the Bedrock Narrative
Optimism is the belief that all problems are solvable.
Notes from the Post-it Wall — Week of July 30, 2017
• Answering personality tests like the Meyers Briggs or something for my job is really hard for me. Which personality am I answering for? Mine, or the one I want you to think I have?
How do you want to be defined? By one action? By some opinion that could evolve? By a mistake, regrettable only with hindsight? Or by the sum of your parts? Okay, do that for other people. Start the trend.