A Pessimist, an Optimist, and a Realist

This week, we will cover a quote from a TV show that I'm sure most of you have heard of, The Walking Dead.  As a brief background to this moment in the show's history, Carol and Morgan come across a new community that is run by a man named, King Ezekiel.  King Ezekiel, to make things even more odd, has a tiger as a pet.  As you get to know him, you notice he has an almost noble way of speaking and is always saying things in an order that resembles that of Shakespeare.  And he is always spewing out loads of wisdom.  Take a moment to look at the image below.  Ignore the first quote; we will be focusing on the second one.

What do you think?  If you don't know what to think, well, this is another one of his oddly worded pieces of wisdom, so lets pick it apart to better understand it.  According to Google definitions, a pessimist is "a person who tends to see the worse aspect of things or believe that the worst will happen."  As we can see at the end of this quote, King Ezekiel is talking about a path, one that I would say is the path of life.  If a pessimist sees all of the bad things, it would make sense why he is looking down.  And looking down doesn't necessarily mean that he is literally and physically doing just that.  When someone is depressed, we say that he or she is looks down.  I would understand it to be in a similar light as this.  The pessimist is always depressed, and he keeps hitting his head.  On what? I'm not sure.  But why would he hit his head?  Well, if you have ever hit your head on something before, your first and immediate reaction is to look up and see what it is that you ran into.  So, if a pessimist continues to hit his head, it is like something is trying to get the pessimist to look up, and see the other good things in life, and that it is not all bad.  And, to look up, so that he knows where the path of life is going. 

The optimist serves to be the exact opposite.  Also according to Google definitions, an optimist is "a person who tends to be hopeful and confident about the future or the success of something."  So, whereas someone is said to be down, translating to depressed, another common phrase comes in mind here for an optimist.  Have you ever heard someone being referred to as having their mind in the clouds?  This fits perfect.  As an optimist will look at everything that is good, and rarely acknowledge those things that are bad.  So, rather than looking down like a pessimist, they look up, but not straight ahead.  They look up, toward the sky.  The look too high, for they do not acknowledge everything.  Both the pessimist and the optimist do not see where they are going.  The pessimist doesn't know what direction they are going or what is coming in the future, while the optimist doesn't know where they are stepping, and also, doesn't know the future.  Hence, the optimist loses his footing and is forced to look ahead to see where he is going.  But, he continues to bring his or her head back up.

Then, there comes the realist.  A realist is "a person who accepts a situation as it is and is prepared to deal with it accordingly", according to Google definitions.  So, they are not biased to one side or the other, as a pessimist and optimist are.  Instead, he or she removes themself from the situation and see all of the good and the bad.  Therefore, they neither look up, or down, but directly ahead.  They are not fooled by all the good, or all the bed, but see them for what they are.  There are always good and bad things in everything.  There is never something that is purely good, or purely bad.  But everything has good and bad aspects.  Therefore, he or she looks ahead.  They can see where they are stepping, and not lose their footing.  They see where the path of life leads them, so they can change their path accordingly.

King Ezekiel, in as little words as possible, was able to show us the difference between a pessimist, an optimist, and a realist.  In this sense, he very much resembles Shakespeare.  Look at everything we were able to pull from just three simple lines!  It is just as important how he said things, as to what he said.  So, based on all of this, what are you? A pesimist, an optimist, or a realist?