2005-04-29 - 11:14 a.m.
"Hope, unlike optimism, does not 'leave behind' the tragic experience which is its enduring context. Both optimism and despair 'know the answer', whereas it is characteristic of hope (as one form of expression of the tragic vision) that it is articulated in the interrogative mood. Hope may, indeed, be questionable but, if it is to remain hope, it can only take the form of a question." (Lash's A Matter of Hope, Chapter 18 "Optimism, Eschatology and the Form of the Future")
This explains to me why I, who would never consider myself an optimist, would consider myself a person full of hope.
