The World Is Beautiful

I'm still on my optimistic, happy kick, and, frankly, I don't think it's just a kick at this point. This has lasted for over a week now. I think I might have made a fundamental lifestyle change, or perhaps understood some new philosophies that allow me to see the world in a different way. I don't think it's through rose colored glasses- I think it is through percentages. More people in their cars do not honk than do. More people do hold open doors than don't. It's simple statistics. More people don't suck than do suck. More days turn out to be okay than complete, utter disasters.

I've started, when people ask me how I'm doing, to answer, first of all, "great," because that seems to be how I feel on a general basis. Yeah, I might have cramps, but I live in a world-class, glorious, gorgeous city, have my dream job, and have lost a lot of weight. Mathematically speaking, though I might have had to pop two advil this morning, three positives minus two advil still leaves me with one! I am doing great! Or, I might answer, "wonderful!" Because, even if I have a little bit of a cold from the weather change, the weather change feels delightful, I get to wear my new, comfy and stylish boots, my favourite blazers, and snuggly leggings, I was asked the other day to be in a workout video (something that I never ever ever thought would happen), I'm in a happy, stable relationship with the man of my dreams, and flowers are pretty. When I look at it that way, it is rather difficult to view things as anything but wonderful. Once again, it's simple numbers- my day is wonderful, even if there are little things that get me down. It seems so obvious to me.

So, after I answer with, "wonderful," "great," or "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" (which I haven't done yet, but holy hell is it tempting,) I've been saying, "the world is beautiful," because, well, I've done the math. The numbers check out. We live in a beautiful world. For every bit of suck, there are about ten heaping servings of totally awesome. Thus, beautiful world, right? For every thing that goes wrong, something might not go right, but a lot of other things didn't go wrong. Plus, flowers are pretty and coffee and chocolate exist. We have a lot going for us.

Okay... people invented that? Life can't be all that bad.

But, the reactions I've gotten have been overwhelmingly negative. Actually, they've ranged from negative, to surprised, to downright snarky. I've gotten "Wow," "Haha, is it now?," "Psscht," "I'm glad that it is for you," "Oooookayyy..," "Bullshit," and "Well, that's a lie"... Is it, though? Is your life really that hard? Not to bring up the age-old cliche, but are you starving to death? Has everyone around you been killed in a terrifying genocide lately? If your answer is yes to either one of these questions, not a theoretical or figurative yes, but a legitimate, absolute yes, than perhaps it is true that mathematically the world is not beautiful for you as of late. Otherwise... you might have it okay. Something to consider. I mean, neither one of those things, or any event/ tragedy even close to either one of those has ever struck at me, but I realize that this makes me lucky and blessed, which is not an entitled right for anyone as a human being, and, it makes me feel empathy and sadness for those who may have experienced this every, or, frankly, any day. I wish I could fix it. Well, I give money to some charitable organizations, volunteer some time to help underprivileged teens in NYC and spread the word about new news things that I think matter and are relevant on a world or local scale on Facebook etc. a lot, so, even though I know that I could take the next plane to some impoverished countryside and make quite a bit more of a difference through labor or handing out teddy bears or some kind of charitable whatever like that, I don't feel dreadfully awful about my current impact on the world. Call it a lame justification that I do more than a lot of people if you like- it is. I could do wayyy more, and intend to during my life. I think it is each of our responsibility to leave this world better than we found it, not just for our own kids, but for every single person on the planet. But, that's a whole nother post.

That sun is gorgeous. Like a beautiful world, right?

Back to the topic at hand... why is everyone so convinced that this world sucks? Why is it not okay, normal, or, frankly, even within the realm of acceptability to state, and truly mean, that you think the world is a beautiful place? Why are we so dogmatically snarky and pessimistic? More importantly, though... what would happen if, instead of it being "in vogue" to think that people are awful, our lives are terrible, our fates are sealed, and that our world is, as a rule, a place of pestilence and abject horror that is out to get us, we all adopted the motto of, "the world is beautiful?" I'm serious. Would people do more to help the world, and each other, if, instead of thinking that this planet is crumbling into the abyss, we felt that it was climbing up a ladder to becoming a heaven? I think that they might. Instead of attempting the near-impossible of salvaging a sinking ship, we'd be nudging a baby bird to take its first flight, which it would manage even without us.

See? Flowers. Pretty. We're winning.

Therefore... here is my challenge. I dare you- take a day, and try to see the world as beautiful. If you think about it mathematically, it should be easy. Realize how many people didn't annoy you, or make you mad. Count how many gorgeous flowers, or color-changing trees you passed on your drive or walk to work.

What have you got to lose?

Seriously now. Hand-crafted lattes (that I can only afford once a week) are beautiful.

The world is beautiful.

And optimism will not make you lose this latte. It might even taste better.

Manhattan and Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA