Does Pessimism have a role?

From the childhood it has been dinned into our ears only to say good or auspicious things. Aswini Devatas are stated to be saying" amen'or 'let it be'. So for inauspicious statements also would be confirmed by them.
In our village there is a funny inauspicious way of blessing newly married couples.
our great grand patti would say in Tamil" Thali Peruga; Kunkumam kalaiya'
Literal meaning will be" Let the yellow sacred thread get cut and the kunkumam on the bride's head be erased. What an inauspicious wish!.
But people will be waiting to listen to Patti's words and they would come from even from the adjacent villages.
The significance of the blessing" The girl will have a happy wedded life. She would get a baby soon. The baby when suckling its mother invariably will pull the yellow thread so forcibly that it may get cut. More so, the baby with its tiny fingers will erase the tilakam on mother's forehead while she hugs the baby.
No wonder, the newly wedded bride would like to listen to the wonderful blessing from patti.

One of my childhood friends, a brilliant student was famous for inauspicious thinking.For her exams result in failure, sickness in death, travel in accidents.She would weep after writing every exam and invariably score above 90%.

In an old Tamil movie, Nagesh, the brides brother imagines that her sister's saree catches fire in the Kuthu vilakku( lamp)resulting in a great tragedy.

The above friend of mine got married and had a handsome son.It seems that her uncle, a good astrologer predicted that her son's Ayurbhavam ( longevity) was questionable and a fatal calamity awaited him at the age of 7.

The mother started worrying flamed by her attitude.As ill luck would have it, the boy, when seven., contacted some severe infection which resulted in high fever, got admitted. Mother got panicky always reminded of the terrific predictions of her uncle.
Her lamentations and stress reached unimaginable heights necessitating her admission in a neuro ward.

The boy's fever also didn't come down. Mother's condition started deteriorating day by day.Neither powerful drugs nor electric shock had the favourable impact.A week lapsed.
The doctor visited the lady next morning.He held the mother's hands and asked her to be calm and slowly revealed the sad news that her son had reached heavenly abode and she had to face the reality.

The mother broke down, wept bitterly for an hour and slowly came to terms. Her uncle's predictions had proved correct.It took nearly a week for her to reconcile to the fact and no visitors were allowed as she had to recover from the shock.
After10 days she was discharged from the hospital.Even facing tragedy seemed better than living in anxiety.The pricking worry got suppressed after knowing the inevitable.
After a month she went to meet the doctor and thanked him profusely for bringing her back to normalcy and gave him a gift article.
The doctor said that he also wanted to give her a return gift to her.From inside was brought the seven year old child of the lady, in full form.The doctor had kept the boy in his custody so long.
A blatant lie, though inauspicious, saved the mother( see my snippet on "satyameva Jayathe)
Now her son, 40 years old, is married and well settled.All the conflicts resulted out of
the misplaced faith in astrology and her innate attitude.

In 'faith' there is enough light for those who believe and enough shadows to blinden people.
One of my cousins, a great believer of numerology tied the mangalasutra at
3.40 A. M. as advised by his numerology Guru.He insisted on getting a particular door No:32 for his rented house in Chennai. Of course he got a house in a crooked lane.The pessimistic beliefs fused into inexpressible stubbornness, made the life miserable for his wife and children and the entire family went into ruins even before the person was 60.

But we cannot set aside 'pessimism' branding it as an undesirable attribute.
There are many pessimists who have been very successful in life.

I fully appreciate ' Dream Big ' theory of Dr. Abdul Kalam. Pessimism is stated to stand in the way of dreaming great.

People with rosy outlook sometimes become over confident , refuse to see within and overlook the emergency threats.Pessimists with their expectation set at a lower level get prepared for eventualities and disappointments.

Practically pessimism has a decisive role in crisis management in business, disaster management during natural calamities, dealing with Railway and Flight accidents. Not to talk of bear trends in stock markets and the importance of Intensive care units in hospitals and ambulance keep up cannot be under emphasized.

Every optimistic thought has an inbuilt pessimism beneath.Are pessimistic people
too optimistic about the impending perils?Isn't the world famous mechanism of SWOT( Strength, Weakness-Opportunity and Threat) in management science essentially based on pessimism?

Jayasala 42

 

Dear Navs3,
Thank you for the response. I had also the same doubt.Since, the doctor was a psychologist, he would have studied her mind. Since his normal drug and electrical therapy did not have the desired results , he had used his lateral thinking.
As a doctor, he would have studied the patient's mind well and would have been optimistic of the benign results and would have been prepared for the exigencies and would have cautionary alternate plans,in case his treatment would go wrong..The pessimism in an optimist and the optimism in a pessimist are interesting studies, as you have rightly pointed out.

Jayasala 42

 

Dear Pushpa,

Thank you for your wonderful response giving in nutshell what it really means.
It is just like good and bad combination. Even people who are optimistic would become pessimistic when faced with problems.
Psychologists and research scholars feel continuous success can make a man optimistic.When he faces a single failure he is totally down letting himself into total depression.
Especially educationists have to keep this in mind and avoid giving the first place to the same student over and again.Avoiding success and purposely meeting with the failure
on occasions will definitely strengthen the mind.This is a self assessment plan.

 

Dear Viswa,
I agree.I meant that SWOT recognises 'Pessimism'.
You have analysed the concept very well.
When we feel that there is some weakness in the individual or team and there is a threat for success, automatically optimism gives way to clouds of pessimism.

Jayasala 42

 

Thank you, Crafts and Looms.
Jayasala 42

 

Dear Manju,
Well said. All the advancement in science and developments thereof have been possible out of experiencing certain difficulties.as you said, that cannot be termed as " pessimism'.Getting up after many failures is definitely optimism.
As human beings it is quite normal to feel depressed for some time.As our will power excels, the glow of optimism is there.
Thank you Manju.

Jayasala 42