The Importance of Optimism

??The Importance of Optimism by Lap Gong Leong

???????????????????????On the night of August 23rd, I was rushed into the emergency room for chest tightness. While there was no risk of life-threatening illness, the ensuing month would see me grapple with a bevy of negative thoughts concerning terminal illnesses with more than a pinch of fatalistic thinking. While I am getting healthier every day (even with a new diagnosis of Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis), the numerous symptoms that seem to come, go, or stay have given me impetus to write this short essay.

???????????Young people in the industrialized world seem to have not had the economic sunshine that their parents and grandparents experienced during their working lives. While figures and data vary, most seem to agree that those in their 20s and 30s are unlikely to see lifetime earnings higher or comparable to previous generations. Moreover, the poor performance of the global economy is unlikely to change. 13 years after the 2008 recession, potential economic growth and real economic growth seems to stay wide, reminding everyone about the impotence of economic policymaking. Left wing and center left parties that promise redistribution coupled social justice with a have seen their stocks gradually rise in the last few years.

???????????There is a remarked lack of optimism within American culture.

Despite opinion polls reporting strong (or at least constant) life satisfaction, popular culture in Hollywood and New York have embraced a dystopian worldview. Spurred on by climate change and technological advancement, the last decade has seen tastemakers reward artists who craft morbid worlds that are only changed and bettered through the sheer will of a hero or heroine and his or her posse.

Looking back, the Hunger Games, Harry Potter, and Twilight predicted the cultural zeitgeist that has dominated our world. The encapsulation of this informed pessimism is undoubtedly the young environmentalist movement led by Greta Thunberg. Her compelling rhetoric and honest emotions have legitimated a wide moroseness that has penetrated the world’s thinkers and influencers.

Few places, other than Silicon Valley and radical circles in DC, are in a mood to craft optimistic stories that once defined midcentury predictions of the 21st?century. It is understandable, especially considering our environmental, economic, and social struggles.

???????????Being in the emergency room felt like purgatory. Waiting for the bloodwork and having nurses and doctors converse with you generate a strange calm. While there was every reason to believe the worse, especially with a mysterious feeling in your chest, great bedside manner put me in a mood to be optimistic. And while this experience did not happen again in another Midtown hospital and at an urgent care facility, I came to realize that life’s unending struggles and tragedies did not remove the need to dream in technicolor. While realists are right to tell us that medical panaceas are rarely on the foreseeable horizon, especially with rising costs, they ought not to imply that the world need be satisfied with incremental gains. In fact, dreaming and pursuing magical technology to eliminate disease and want and poverty ought to be our guiding star. As of now, there is no scientific fact establishing a hard limit on a healthy life. There is no academic reason why economies are destined to stagnate for another decade. There is no mechanical consensus as to why there can’t be a quieter sonic boom. Most importantly, there is no political fact establishing that life cannot be much better than it is today.

While fantastical utopia is a detriment to mankind’s progress, a consistent and genuine faith in great improvements is necessary to our continued survival on planet earth.

???????????Of course, today’s optimism will not and ought not to be a direct a revival of midcentury hubris. There is no reason to believe a war on depression or another moon landing would be more successful than the war on cancer or would bring national glory as did Apollo 11. Today’s visions of the future are likely to focus on building a healthier, greener, freer, and richer world.?

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[Each week, I join Lap Gong Leong, a colleague in weekly conversation; Lap is an emerging writer and commentator on a wide range of topics including politics, education, film, science fiction, and building a prosperous and free society for all. His analysis and critique aims to break through the logjam of conventional ideas and wisdom, especially as it relates to the careers and lives of individuals with Autism. We are pleased to share the 20th piece of writing from our recent exchanges.

About?Lap Gong Leong: A graduate of?the?Borough of Manhattan Community College?in Liberal Arts,?"I am in the process?of transferring to a four-year university for the 2022-23 academic year.?However, the lack of Autistic aids for many individuals, including myself has incentivized me to see entrepreneurial ventures and work for myself."?

A resident of NYC, Lap also divides his time between Hong Kong and Singapore.]

13 October 2021