Posted by: MartinFocazio
Pessimists vs. Optimists - 01/14/21 09:35 PM
Some of you may have noticed that I was basically absent from this forum for a few years, despite being a very active member and moderator in the past.
Most of the reason I was generally not around was that I had a job that got me fairly far up the corporate ladder and that absorbed so much of my time that I didn't have much time to chit-chat online.
Anyway, one of the things I did quite a bit for those years was travel the world for various reasons. I often went to Eastern Europe - Ukraine, Belarus, Slovakia, Romania, etc. and while there I made some good friends and had plenty of laughs and vodka.
One of the jokes I learned from a colleague while out to dinner with him in Minsk was as follows:
In Eastern European culture, a pessimist will say, "Things are so terrible, very bad, and could not possibly get any worse."
But in response, the Eastern European optimist will say, "Oh, don't worry so much, of course they could get worse!"
Most of the reason I was generally not around was that I had a job that got me fairly far up the corporate ladder and that absorbed so much of my time that I didn't have much time to chit-chat online.
Anyway, one of the things I did quite a bit for those years was travel the world for various reasons. I often went to Eastern Europe - Ukraine, Belarus, Slovakia, Romania, etc. and while there I made some good friends and had plenty of laughs and vodka.
One of the jokes I learned from a colleague while out to dinner with him in Minsk was as follows:
In Eastern European culture, a pessimist will say, "Things are so terrible, very bad, and could not possibly get any worse."
But in response, the Eastern European optimist will say, "Oh, don't worry so much, of course they could get worse!"
