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Many fervent and loyal blog readers will remember a recent posting about a woman whose son was killed.
How she went to the prison where the killer was locked up.
How she had a confrontation with the criminal and was able to forgive him.

There is a second part to this story.

Once this remarkable lady had been able to forgive the killer of her son, she had herself trained as a social worker.
Specialised in assisting and guiding drug addicts.
We must remember that the killer of her son was a young man addicted to drugs.
And that he committed his fatal crime while under the influence.

Her work became one of the efforts to have young people that fall victim to drugs-use see this is not the way to live.

There is another friend who lost her two children in traffic accidents.
She was so incredibly devastated by these events: she lost any appetite for life.
And eventually killed herself with an overdose of sleeping tablets.
This was a very tragic event, not in the least for her close friends.

We may wonder why one person is able to sublimate a dramatic event in life and the other is not.
To turn negativity into positivism.

There must be an inner power.
Elements in the core.
Substance in the heart and soul.
That is able to handle negative input in a way that it changes into positive output.

Characteristics of a personality we call optimism or pessimism.
One can be an optimist.
Or one can be a pessimist.

Obviously, going through life as an optimist is by far the preferred way.
But it is not something that can be learned.
Someone is an optimist or a pessimist by nature.

There may be explanations to understand why someone is able to sublimate and why another person is unable.
Why one is an optimist by nature and another a pessimist.
However, every explanation is a speculation.
An interpretation.
There is no absolute truth in this matter.
No scientific explanation.

Nevertheless, pessimists are bombarded by methods promising a change.
Methods to have a negative approach to existence u-turned into always seeing the bright side of life.
Several of these methods actually work.
By putting a layer on top of the personality of the pessimist.
The natural pessimism is covered completely and life is lived from a doctrine.

But is real change of a personality possible?
Fundamentally?
Drastically?
Don’t be too optimistic about that!
Or be pessimistic, if you prefer.




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