The wonderful thing about Tigger...

Who are you most like, Eeyore or Tigger? A.A. Milne’s beloved characters are certainly at the opposite end of the spectrum. Eeyore, the glum, gray donkey who looks at life through sludge-colored glasses is the archetypical pessimist. Tigger, on the other hand is bouncy and optimistic and just generally happy. I recently watched an amazing video online that asked this question.

There is a tradition in academe called the “Last Lecture,” in which professors are asked to imagine that they have only one more time to address their students and are given the opportunity to present what would be their final words of wisdom. Randy Pausch, a professor from Carnegie Mellon University is dying of a very aggressive cancer and has been given mere months to live. He gave his last lecture, entitled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” on September 18th, 2007. It was recorded and posted online and has spread virally the way internet videos tend to do. (If you are curious, here is a link: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5700431505846055184 ). Dr. Pausch can only be described as Tigger-esque as he gives his presentation – joking, doing push-ups to demonstrate his good health and talking about how he actually experienced zero gravity. He is the epitome of “looking on the bright side.”

I am not certain that I would be able to face my own imminent death with such acceptance and good humor. I like to think that I am more like bouncy pouncy Tigger than mopey Eeyore these days, although it hasn’t always been that way. Being optimistic isn’t something that we are born with. The human condition tends to be angst-ridden and fearful. So what is it that gives some people that ability to see the best in their situations? Being an optimist is the ability to see opportunities when everyone else sees threats or weakness. As Pausch states in his lecture, “We can’t change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.” So, then, if I face obstacles purposefully I empower myself to decide how I will deal with them. And therein lies the fundamental difference between the optimist and the pessimist.