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PART
ONE
According to
the early twentieth century Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci, we need
both “the pessimism of the intellect and the optimism of the will.”
Our pessimism forces us to see reality and calculate what actions are
available to us. Our optimism provides us the hope that our actions will
result in positive changes and inspire us to act rather than despair.
Antonio Gramsci was a communist. For at least the last 60
years Communist philosophers have had little
credibility in the West. But there seems nothing inherently communistic
about Gramsci’s ideas about pessimism and optimism. Indeed Nobel peace
laureate Albert Schweitzer — noted physician, Christian theologian,
musician, African missionary, and philosopher, who lived at about the
same time as Gramsci — espoused a similar opinion: “My knowledge is
pessimistic, but my willing and hoping are optimistic.” I’m no communist
either. But I see a lot of value in Gramsci’s (and Schweitzer’s) shared
personal philosophy. Assess any situation with your intellect. Do not
hide from the truth. Imagine what actions are possible. Project the best
possible outcome. Act for change to make the best outcome happen.
In the spring
and summer when I’m not traveling I coach baseball for a local team of
13-to-15-year-old boys. The aches and pains of the sport tell me the
truth: I’m getting old. Teaching the game to a group of talented boy
athletes, hitting and pitching to them, and participating in twenty or
more competitive baseball games each season tell me a lie: I’m still a
kid myself.
The problem with
working with people has less to do with “working” than it does “people”.
Working, like walking, is pretty simple: one step at a time from a
starting point until you reach the end point. People, on the other hand,
are complicated: there are few straight-line relationships in real life.
Even on the baseball field. Every new season brings me the same
challenge: teaching America’s sport to a new group of eager students,
each of whom brings a unique set of talents, quirks, and personality
attributes. Understanding what each boy brings helps me tailor my
teaching approach to his advantage. Then, occasionally, I get floored.
This year Sean floored me.
Sean’s older
brother Tommy — a great baseball player: fleet, graceful, tenacious, and
competitive — had played on the team for the past two years. After the
2007 season Tommy graduated from our club to play on a team for older
boys. Tommy’s younger brother Sean appeared at try-outs for our team
this past March. I already knew Sean from his having played in some of
our team practices and in autumn pick-up games I organized during
Tommy’s tenure on the team. Sean, as brothers usually are, is not very
much like Tommy. He’s not fast. He’s not graceful. But he shares his
older brother’s passion for the game, his tenacity, his competitiveness,
and he can hit. In April after three weeks of try-outs in which he
showed considerable promise and heart, Sean was selected to be on our
baseball team.
Making the team
was a big moment for Sean, as it was for his entire family. With the
team selected, practices began in earnest. The season would open in less
than three weeks. We distributed team caps
during our second practice. After the second practice Sean’s mother told
me that Sean’s doctors said he should not be running: Sean had been
diagnosed with a leaky heart valve and needed an operation. If making
the team was a big deal for Sean and his family, being forced to leave
the team just as preparations for the season were underway was an even
bigger disappointment.
Sean kept his
team cap. But he never collected his uniform. Sean visited us at one
other practice, but not being able to play or participate was too
painful for him. In June Sean’s mother e-mailed me that Sean’s heart
surgery had been scheduled for August 11. If all goes well, doctors may
permit Sean to return to the team for the 2009 season.
Today is August
11. Whatever you are doing today probably pales in comparison to what
Sean is undergoing. Sean’s heart condition and today’s surgery can take
his life or give him the chance to play baseball next season. At
thirteen years old Sean already is riding a roller coaster exploring the
depths of pessimism and the exhilarations of optimism.
What does this
philosophy have to do with travel? It strikes me that seven years of
hard times have taken a large toll on the psyche of Americans. Hope and
optimism have eroded, replaced by fear and cynicism. The
pessimism/optimism equation has become skewed way out of balance. During
times when our American optimism was extremely high (think the 1950s and
1960s), we were naïve but fearless travelers. Today after
a plague of seven long years of bad news —
first the attacks on America in 2001, then the ongoing wars in the
Middle East, and now the double-headed economic monster of the housing
market caused recession coupled with energy-fueled inflation — we
have become overly cautious, frightened
non-travelers.
Meanwhile, every year we choose to stay home our individual
windows of travel opportunity close a little further. Today many
Americans look at the present and conclude that they are seeing the
future. By denying what is possible, we only ensure that positive change
will not occur. Travel, meanwhile, has become more difficult and more
expensive since September 11, 2001. But while the processes and costs of
travel have become more daunting, the potential rewards of travel have
not diminished. In fact, they remain yours for the taking. You need only
recognize the realities of travel and not let them paralyze you with
fear. Let the optimism of your will balance the pessimism of your
intellect.
--------------------
Ron Fahnestock
Editor
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