A-Z blogging challenge: O is for Owls and Optimism

I swear! I was into owls before owls went all rage-y. Really! It's not as if I'm opposed to liking something in the mainstream, but really, I *did.* We have had an owl in the neighborhood for a few years, and I named him Owen. Of course I would rarely see Owen, but we would often hear him at night. His hoots were always so comforting to me. That, combined with a fun field trip to a nearby wildlife refuge a few years back where I fell in love with a large barn owl, and my captivation was complete.

Owen in the fog, back for a recent visit

Occasionally when I would mow the lawn, Owen would be in one stand of trees and take off and swoop low over my head and to the other side of the yard. I loved that, once I figured out what was going on, and that he wasn't headed at me to take my sunglasses off my face!

He hasn't been around so much the past year or so, but I hear stories from the neighbors about "their" owl, so I think he kind of gets around. On nights when I do hear his hoot, it makes me happy.

Something about owls and their big eyes, swively heads and solid bodies have always appealed to me. Of course, when I like something I mention it, and pin it, and mention it again, and before you know it, I've got owls and owls and more owls. I'm OK with that. 

Twin owls: different birthdays, different friends, same fixated Sher!

As for optimism, it's a little like owls: It's gone mainstream. Ha. OK, not really; there's not quite the straight-line correlation here that I might hope for in writing a post like this. But optimism is something I've been accused of very, very frequently in my life. It has even been opined that I may be *the most* optimistic person someone's ever met. And they're not usually meaning it as a good thing. There's an edge of "you're an idiot, don't you know how bad reality is?" in there somewhere. 

By turns I've taken it as a compliment, an insult and probably everything in between; but mostly--especially lately--I just don't care how it hits other people, that I'm able to take a situation and figure out what's the good that could come from it, where's the hidden opportunity, and maybe even a silver lining.

To me optimism is a choice. Quite frankly, I don't make that choice as much as I used to. Maybe reality really has come home to roost? But, 9 days out of 10, I am able to greet a new morning, envision at least one or two steps forward, anticipate the backward steps (which I definitely am better at in my 40s than in my 20s), and set off to accomplish what I can. 

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

and

“For myself I am an optimist--it does not seem to be much use to be anything else.”

both from Winston Churchill

This is not to say that there aren't some pretty awful things in the world, events and circumstances that simply don't have a silver lining--pure evil, say, like the bombing this week in Boston. Where's the good there? Doesn't exist, and I would never pretend otherwise.

“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.” -Howard Zinn

Would you call yourself an optimist? Pessimist? Realist?

What's this A-Z business about? Check out my kick-off post. And stay tuned for the random joy and nonsense I concoct during the month of April!