2009年5月31日星期日

Certainty v.s Suspicion

A discussion "Happy Days" is held in "The New York Times" to give the opinions of what matters in troubled times and contemplate how to search the contentment in many forms (economic, emotional, physical, spiritual etc). In brief, if you can't change the circumstance you face, at least you can transform your pursuit of happiness, sanity, or even survival.

Daniel Gilbert, a professor of psychology at Harvard University and author of “Stumbling on Happiness”, wrote an article to make a point that people prefer to know the worst than to suspect it.

Why?

When we get bad news we weep for a while, and then get busy making the best of it. We change our behavior, we change our attitudes. We raise our consciousness and lower our standards. We find our bootstraps and tug. But we can’t come to terms with circumstances whose terms we don’t yet know. An uncertain future leaves us stranded in an unhappy present with nothing to do but wait.

To some extent, it is right. But one question lingered in my mind is:

If we know the worst for certain——what if the bad news knock down us completely, what if whatever tomorrow is it means nothing at all —— how can we strive to come to terms with the lives we lead?

Shouldn't the uncertain future also mean some hope which is worth us to strive for?

How to choose between the certainty and the suspicion? How to choose between nervous and hope?

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