Half-empty optimism

I went to a talk over the weekend on transportation. Blah, blah, blah. It wasn't interesting. The speaker said one thing that caught my attention. She said that parking lots can be found half empty.

That got me to thinking. I have always liked being a "glass half full" type of guy. Why? Because I like to be seen as optimistic and I like to think that I really do want to see the brighter side of things. But wait, isn't it better if a parking lot is empty? That means people didn't drive there, and that would be good.

This opened a huge can of worms. Have I been tricked all this time? (I think I have). Is this whole "glass half full" bit all about more being better? I think it is.

I always see the metaphorical "glass" as being full of water. Water is good and people don't drink enough, so more water is better. But what if that "glass" is half full of kool-aid? Really there shouldn't be any kool-aid in there at all, that stuff will kill you. So in that case, wouldn't it be optimistic to think of the glass as half empty?

So here it is, I now see the glass as half empty and I'm optimistic about it. I think the glass is full of stuff and I don't think that having more of it is going to be better in any way. In fact, I want less. I want to rely less on the stuff in the glass so that we can live in a sustainable world. I am also optimistic that we, as a society, can think outside of the box and make change toward being better. Minus is the new Plus.