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From (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Stockdale http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Stockdale) When [...] asked who didn't make it out of Vietnam, Stockdale
by Jun8 13y ago
From (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Stockdale http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Stockdale)
When [...] asked who didn't make it out of Vietnam, Stockdale replied:
Oh, that's easy, the optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, 'We're going to be out by Christmas.' And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they'd say, 'We're going to be out by Easter.' And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart."
Stockdale then added:
This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.
- irremediable 13y agoOn the other hand, I've heard Holocaust survivors tell me their optimism was what allowed them to survive. I don't think these witty sayings prove anything.
- dfraser992 13y agoWas it really optimism or rather the ability to find meaning within the experience? I ask because one of the top 10 books I've ever read is Viktor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning". He survived the death camps and figured out how he and others did so. Compared to it, _The Secret_ is revealed to be a shallow mindless "gimme, I'm entitled" attitude towards life where hard work is deemed unnecessary - i.e. reality is nothing but a psychological construct and you can manipulate it with merely your will. In others words, an excuse for airheads to indulge their inner two year old. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Frankl http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Frankl "optimistic outlook" vs "optimistic thinking" is far better, IMO
- keithpeter 13y agoThanks for this reference. The 'Statue of Responsibility' strikes me as a useful monument to build in many countries of the first world.
- irremediable 13y agoVery well said and good points. Agreed on the distinction between outlook and "thinking". Obviously, optimism in the sense of ignorance of one's environment is a bad idea.
- b_emery 13y agoThe witty saying is not so much an attempt to prove but a useful summary of one man's experience. In other words, be optimistic, but not delusional. Stay grounded in reality. I imagine that if you interviewed the survivors you speak of, they would agree.
- saraid216 13y agoI think the key idea here is actually betrayal. The optimism described by Stockdale was a false promise and when broken proved hollow, whereas the optimism described by Holocaust survivors tend to be more about belief in things despite a feeling of betrayal.
- saraid216 13y agoThat story reminds me of this Robert Louis Stevenson fable: http://www.authorama.com/fables-16.html http://www.authorama.com/fables-16.html