The Perpetual Optimist

At the end of a NYT obituary for The Reverend James Callan who passed away at 77 in December 2024, there is a last word, but not a last word from the reverend. It is a favorite quote of his from Eric Sevareid a legendary CBS newscaster and journalist who might be remembered by those who remember the 1964 World Series. Eric was an Edward R. Morrow Boy, a WW II correspondent and general sage.

Eric apparently liked to say: "I'm a pessimist about tomorrow, but I'm an optimist about the day after tomorrow." Surely a sentiment that should be in Bartlett's. (It's not. Nothing from Mr. Sevareid's made its way in.)

When you parse the progression of pessimism and optimism, you realize that Mr. Sevareid never makes it to the day he's optimistic about. It keeps moving.

It's like that paradox about moving toward a finish line, decreasing the distance to the line by half each day. Since there's always a tiny bit left, and you then advance only half way more, you are still left with a tiny bit left to travel. You never get there no matter how close you come. (I think credit card debt is based on this principle.)

So, imagine it's Friday and you're not optimistic about Saturday, but the day after, Sunday, you're optimistic about. Let's look forward to Sunday.

But, stay alive one more day and it's Saturday, and now you're pessimistic about Sunday (because it's now the day after), but are optimistic about Monday. But weren't you just a day ago optimistic about Sunday? Sure you were, You said you were. What happened with advancing another day?

I remember Eric Sevareid's broadcasts. I'm not sure he ever smiled.

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