An optimist isn’t necessarily a blithe, slightly sappy whistler in the dark of our time. To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places – and there are so many – where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.
An optimist isn’t necessarily a blithe, slightly sappy whistler in the dark of our time. To be hopefu…
Howard Zinn
Howard Zinn was born in 1922 and died 2010. He was a historian and a playwright. He taught at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, then at Boston University. He was active in the civil rights movement, and in the movement against the Vietnam war. He has written many books, his best known being A People`s History of the United States. His many books include You Can`t Be Neutral on a Moving Train (a memoir), The Zinn Reader, The Future of History (interviews with David Barsamian) and Marx in Soho (a play), among many others.