Don't make grounds barren and then claim lush gardens are mere fiction…
The ongoing debate about being realistic or being idealistic keeps getting on my nerves, so might as well bring it up and offer my point of view.
Too often, people assume they have the most correct and accurate perception of the self, people, life, the world, and/or the universe. What they fail to realize is that they are not accounting for what, with what is, could be. In some cases, they are not even accounting for what, despite what now is, has been. Quite literally, they are being short-sighted. Yes, you can see what’s right in front of you and around you with clarity, perhaps even in precise detail, but there is a lot more that goes beyond that.
It’s no lie that many idealists have given idealism a bad name. And this is because, alternatively although similarly, they also fail to take more into account. They ignore the what is in favor of their whimsical imagination. And that’s fine, outstanding even, if you’re working on a piece of fiction. But when it comes to reality… Well, reality significantly matters.
You shouldn’t be convincing yourself that all would be wonderful, when it wouldn’t, the same way you shouldn’t be convincing yourself that all will always be brutal, when it doesn’t have to be. These are limited and incomplete views that keep you from making the most and the best of what you have and could have. In both cases, you are deluding yourself - either trapping yourself within an alluringly escapist dream or trapping yourself within a barely bearable nightmare. And what’s worse, you are letting or even calling others to join you there.
You have a hand in what happens. You, me, and everyone else. So until there is enough of us believing in and working towards an Ideal Reality, we’ll be settling for an ever-elusive fantasy in a grating dystopia. Don't be a fool.
