Idealism

"Idealism increases in direct proportion to one's distance from the problem." 

~ John Galsworthy

From my album, "Colorful Sunsets", taken at the Guadalupe Bridge.

When I was younger, people knew me to be very idealistic. The fact that I said that, I guess, just gives away the idea that I no longer am. 


Idealism comes with a certain age and it doesn't always do a person good. When you set your ideals, it means you have to stick to it to a tee. Sometimes, if the odds are against you, you don't have a choice but to bend your ideals, unfortunately for those who don't, they would usually falter.

From my album, "Colorful Sunsets", taken at my window.

Setting ideals don't come with flexibility. Therefore, it doesn't take into consideration the factors that are out of your control. In fact, if something is not going to happen due to some incontrollable force, we reason out and start our statement with, "Ideally..." or "In a perfect world...". The word perfect and ideal always go together and we have always lived with the notion that nothing is ever perfect.


Setting ideals don't always include other people. Ideals are usually selfish. Well, what's the point of being idealistic if you listen to what others have to say? 

From my album, "Colorful Sunsets", taken at my window.

When you hear about someone messing up his life, you would usually judge the person and say "If I were him, I would've...". You are probably not noticing it but you're being idealistic when you smirk and scoff about it. And you could only go so far as smirking for you will never be that person. And if, for unfortunate reasons, you are met with the same situation, before you know it, you mess it up even more.

From my album, "Colorful Sunsets", taken at my window.

I'm not totally throwing idealism out the window, sometimes we gain respect from people by letting them know we have set ideals and it can also increase our intellectual value, especially in political speeches.


But to each his own. At some point, I guess, we all go through a stage of being idealistic. When you could only laugh at your mistakes and stay calm if things go out of control, it's when you know you've grown out of it.

From my album, "Colorful Sunsets", taken at my window.

Afterall, when you're done with being idealistic, you discover something more realistic and call them --goals.