A pessimist is a man who has a constant grievance against somebody or
something.
He is forever standing in his own light, and thinks the whole world has
picked him out to be the scapegoat for everything that is bad.
He says: “Everybody and everything is against me and I can not succeed.
It’s no use trying.”
Before you give up to despair, friend, bear this in mind:
You say you have not the same opportunities every other man has.
You will not believe that if you stop to think a moment.
The average Colored American has ten times the opportunities his father
had, and a hundred times the opportunities his grandfather possessed.
You are one of the average Colored Americans, perhaps. Well then, your
grandfather had no opportunities at all. If he had one, he was not
permitted to grasp it. Your father had more opportunities than his
father, but opportunities were just beginning to show themselves.
You live in a far advanced age when the very air is full of
opportunities, and yet you think you have none.
The reason why you are a pessimist is because you want to be. You think
it is too much trouble to reach out and take the opportunities offered
you, sometimes even forced upon you.
Instead of being a pessimist you ought to laugh and thank God that the
bright side of life is always turned toward you, and you can see it by
merely turning your eyes in its direction.
Keep your eyes open; laugh and the world will laugh with you; weep, and
you weep alone.