Optimism and the Heroine
“It is easy to see the beginnings of things, and harder to see the ends. I can remember now, with a clarity that makes the nerves in the back of my neck constrict, when New York began for me, but I cannot lay my finger upon the moment it ended, can never cut through the ambiguities and second starts and broken resolves to the exact place on the page where the heroine is no longer as optimistic as she once was.”
–Joan Didion (of course)
And, may I ask, when does y’all’s optimism begin to fade?
(My thoughts to follow…)
March 27th, 2006 at 12:23 pm
When I read the word “y’all’s” in the sentence of an otherwise fairly good writer. It just sets my teeth on edge.
March 27th, 2006 at 12:35 pm
it’s the way i talk… and the way i blog.
sorry, sugar.
March 27th, 2006 at 12:45 pm
it’s ur blog, write wotevah y’all wanna talk tha talk ms belle
March 27th, 2006 at 2:23 pm
optimism evaporates about the time failure becomes inevitable… you however, belle, remind me that failure is necessary in order to achieve success. merci beaucoup, dahlin’. you send inspiring words out into the world.
March 27th, 2006 at 3:41 pm
Optimism and maturity are opposing forces. Youth reminds us that optimism is valid and enjoyable, while maturity rationalizes its death as realism.
www.ferrariorules.com
March 27th, 2006 at 5:18 pm
For goodness sake. Use ‘Ya’ll’ all you want Belle. Write it down a thousand times…and then underline it.
It’s well used and legitimate.
And it’s much nicer than ‘fairly’.
Adverbs suck.
March 27th, 2006 at 10:57 pm
Tough timing, in my case. I’ve been here four months. I can’t say my optimism has completely faded, but I certainly feel my dreamy illusions of how this would all turn out shattered more and more every day. My resolve isn’t broken, but my perspective has changed.
March 27th, 2006 at 11:24 pm
Some people just never have optimism; they are born without that soft blanket to wrap themselves in. Instead, they live their lives punished by the brutal elements, never able to count on or see faith and hope and goodness.
Jae
March 28th, 2006 at 2:46 am
Optimism fades when the work you have to do to acheive those things gets in the way
….and i just have to say y’all, there i said it! y’all.
March 28th, 2006 at 11:42 am
When I write a post and type the word y’all in it (because that how I talk) I wonder WHO is going to say something about it … because there’s always someone who can’t deal with it. Get over yourself, folks.
March 28th, 2006 at 11:56 am
don’t give up hope.
March 28th, 2006 at 11:56 am
never give up hope.
March 28th, 2006 at 12:55 pm
Belle:
I have had many great things in my life and many horrendous events as well, but I never completely lost that last kernel of optimism. There was always, in my mind, the ability to turn the inevitable into the “what’s next” attitude. coy carson, one of your readers, said ” optimism evaporates about the time failure becomes inevitable.” I do not agree. I think that is exactly the moment when true optimism appears. We all fail. I have many times been on the losing end of situations, but the faith I have in my abilities and intellect have kept me from falling into the abyss.
Andre Malraux said two things that I carry with me
1.“And when man faces destiny, destiny ends and man comes into his own.”
2.“The most important thing in life is to see to it that you are never beaten”
Belle, it is easy to look at optimism as singular or situational, but I believe that it lies much deeper within us.
March 28th, 2006 at 5:39 pm
not cool, “authorauthor”.
as for the optimism….
Mine goes away, but it always returns. Or I always find it.
March 28th, 2006 at 10:14 pm
For me, optimism is like the sunshine.
When it is there, it warms my soul and excites my spirit to rise and battle and climb every mountain.
On cloudy, lonely days filled with rejections and disappointment and fears, that boyant hope seems too far away to grasp, like a liferaft just out of reach.
Yet I know, if I just hang on, the sun will come out, and once again, the glass is more than half full.
Y’all with me?
March 29th, 2006 at 1:19 am
I’m with you Hatti Grace! You’re so right. You cant have a rainbow without the rain. And it’s with that reminder, that I always look for the silver lining in situations, no matter how bleak it may look.