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"Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight. "~Benjamin Franklin
One may be apt to think that optimism is an effective philosophy. That positivity is somehow something more than wishful thinking. After all, it is easy to become lost in worry and stress, to lose focus of productivity or progress, so surely it is better maintain an air of hopeful thoughts, is it not? It is even easier to forget that hope is just as dangerous, nay, even more so.

Throughout history, the same knowledge has persisted: hope is dangerous. Hope leads the radically-minded to extreme action, and blinds fools to the dangers of reality. It has toppled as many empires as it has raised, and always the same mistake is made: the naive turn away from probability in favor of possibility. And always, this mistake holds nothing but failure at the end of its path.

“Keep in the sunlight.” No worse advice may ever have been given. Certainly it may be comforting, safe, It may illuminate truths and lies, and allow us perception of our world, but light is just as deadly a pitfall as dark. Morally, human conceptions of ‘light’ and ‘good’ are artificial forces, a crutch used to cope with petty fears. Their opposite is natural, as is man's’ tendency to fear it. It is unpredictability, change, and more than all strife. Reality is cruel. This is a fact that brooks no argument, and allows no mistakes.

Description
"Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight. "~Benjamin Franklin
One may be apt to think that optimism is an effective philosophy. That positivity is somehow something more than wishful thinking. After all, it is easy to become lost in worry and stress, to lose focus of productivity or progress, so surely it is better maintain an air of hopeful thoughts, is it not? It is even easier to forget that hope is just as dangerous, nay, even more so.

Throughout history, the same knowledge has persisted: hope is dangerous. Hope leads the radically-minded to extreme action, and blinds fools to the dangers of reality. It has toppled as many empires as it has raised, and always the same mistake is made: the naive turn away from probability in favor of possibility. And always, this mistake holds nothing but failure at the end of its path.

“Keep in the sunlight.” No worse advice may ever have been given. Certainly it may be comforting, safe, It may illuminate truths and lies, and allow us perception of our world, but light is just as deadly a pitfall as dark. Morally, human conceptions of ‘light’ and ‘good’ are artificial forces, a crutch used to cope with petty fears. Their opposite is natural, as is man's’ tendency to fear it. It is unpredictability, change, and more than all strife. Reality is cruel. This is a fact that brooks no argument, and allows no mistakes.