Optimism vs. Pessimism

To you, you, & you,

As you may already know, I suffer from a writing problem. I, most of the time, can explain to you word for word how I am feeling, but generally can't ever write it down. That is, unless, something happens that triggers me to do so.Which happened to me about an hour ago.

I just got off of the phone with a "friend" of mine. I am going to preface this story via e-mail with these comments..... This dude can work a FUCKING NERVE! If you don't already know, I choose my friends very, very carefully. I am extremely selective! The bottom line is, everyone can not be trusted. Everyone may not respect you, appreciate you, stand by you, or allow you to be you.....& vice versa.

I pose this question to you......... Is the glass half full or half empty?
This is the debate that I have been having with this "friend" of mine for thelast 3 days or so.

There are certain questions in this world that has no correct or incorrect answer, however, it does allow you to think deeper, allows room for you toexplore your soul or even explore someone else's soul. To me, in my opinion, the question above is a, dare I say, trick question, that allows you to see who is a pessimist or an optimist. The difference between me and a lot of other peopleis, I already know what I am, and I already know what you are.
MY VIEW...MY OPINION:

If you pour Kool-aid into a large glass, and fill it to the half way mark, the glass is half full & half empty. The original state of the glass was empty. To ignore the glass at it's original state, or ignore the other half of the glass,is pure ignorance. By filling it to the half way mark, you made it half full, however, what's in the other half? Nothing. Nothing is in the other half of the glass, which means that the glass is also half empty. The purpose of this question is to say that if you see the glass as half full then you are an optimist, if you see it as half empty then you are a pessimist.

But here is a fact, everyone is an optimist & a pessimist. If you look up the definition for the 2 words, this is what you would find....(btw...there are more than one definition for both words)
Optimist - (n.) One who usually expects a favorable outcome.
Pessimist - (n.) A person who expects the worst.

IF YOU WERE TRULY HONEST WITH YOURSELF, WHAT WOULD YOU SAY YOU WERE?

I'll go first! For a very long time I was a pessimist. Only a pessimist. Now,I can say that I am an optimistic pessimist. In my opinion, everyone is optimistic and pessimistic about something or someone in their life, that is,you will be during your entire lifetime. There is no way you can be just one.You are what/who you are through life experience. You change as life changes,and you learn valuable lessons that hopefully, in the end, make you out to bemore of an optimist. But no one person can change every pessimistic thought orfeeling that you have. There is a saying that someone told me when I was younger, I'm sure you've heard it.....Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.That sounds like pessimistic optimism to me, how about you? To me, that's awesome advice for certain situations because I hate to be disappointed.However, if I can prepare myself for the worst, I can make a PLAN B, so the outcome may still be favorable (Plan for optimism). If you ever made a PLAN B, that's pessimism!
One of the things that I love about myself is that I respect other people's feelings, beliefs, and opinions. I respect them, that doesn't mean that I agree with them. Just as you, I am entitled to feel, believe, and have opinions of my very own. Don't get it twisted, we'll still debate over certain topics, but Iwon't think that your wrong because you don't agree with me. (Unless, of course,I have concrete evidence that can back up my theory, but even then you still have a right to disagree)
As you may know, I am a born again Christian, with flaws that I am still working on correcting. No, I am not perfect! But in my spiritual journey, I have found that balance is key, there should be no extreme. When you become a member of a church, they always encourage you to invite family & friends to share in the experience. I don't invite people so that they are to become Christians. Iinvite you so you can gain knowledge of how and why I've changed so much within the last year or so compared to my past. I have friends who are Muslim, Catholic, Pentecostal, just to name a few. We may not have 100% of the same beliefs, but I'm not going change them, we will learn from each other, and gain knowledge. I won't love them for their religion, I love them for who they are,that they stay true to themselves, I love them because they respect the difference in our beliefs as I do them. This is my optimism.
Many of you will look at my personal message on my MSN Messenger that says"OUT OF ORDER" and wonder what in the world is going on with her, lol. Here is the answer, I was out of commission for a while, I needed time to reflect on me,I was "BEING PROCESSED". As I told my "friend", I'm still within my process. Theprocess to learn, grow, and become an optimistic pessimist instead of a pessimistic optimist. (P.S. - the one that comes first IS THE MAJORITY!) In themorning, my personal message will reflect my current state..."BEING PROCESSED".
This was just food for thought. I couldn't call all of you to explain,but it triggered something in me that compelled me to write. It really hurt thatmy "friend" could not respect my opinion on this topic, although I continued to say this is my opinion. That I am still "BEING PROCESSED". WHAT ONE PERSON ALWAYS, HONESTLY, ALWAYS EXPECTS A FAVORABLE OUTCOME? Doubt is a pessimistic thought.