Pessimism

"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity;
an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."

- Winston Churchill

pes·si·mism [pes-uh-miz-uh m] - noun

1. the tendency to see, anticipate, or emphasize only bad or undesirable outcomes, results, conditions, problems, etc.: His pessimism about the future of our country depresses me.

Reasons for Pessimism:

1. Unknown. - Unsure of what is to come, and doesn't fully feel comfortable to believe that what happens; happens for a reason. To create his own reasoning, he places assumptions on his own or others destiny.
2. Control. - Trying to control their own or others destiny, emotional needs, moods, and expectations but by stating and predicting a negative outcome. It's the ultimate dream crusher.
3. Feelings. - Yes. They do have them. They protect them in this way. Setting the bar so low, creates no disappointments, in turn, no hurt feelings.
4. Evilness. - A hidden evil side of them is itching to make an appearance. They were definitely the kid in the playground that threw sand in other kids faces. The kid that told all the others that Santa wasn't real. The evil side uses their pessimism as a scapegoat, a road, an access way to the world.
5. Belonging. - The sense of "Hey I am not the only one who thinks this way". Depending on the character and personality of a person, if there is too big of a group with all similar pessimistic qualities, the pessimism could fly through the roof. This isn't just a venting session, this is a feast of loathing, bashing, and hating. They would feel exhausted after, and slightly dirty.
6. Beliefs. - If you stand for nothing, you cant fall for anything. Pessimistic people don't have beliefs, I am not talking just religion, I mean beliefs in anything; love, dreams, hopes. Their belief is to believe their own pessimism.
7. Choice. - It is a choice to be pessimistic, maybe as a child they were not able to have choices, or independence, or a vehicle where they could express how they felt. So they used their battered emotion to develop a strong opinion to express their thoughts.
8. Opinion. - They want to have an opinion on everything. A voice. A "matter". Even if its negative. If you don't agree with majority, it creates a battle. It gives them a purpose, purpose to fight their negative opinions, and feel rewarded if they've persuade others to their way of thought.
9. Exposure. - Kevin Carter, a well known photographer, photographed tragic images in South Africa of civil war and famine. The things he was exposed to haunted him until his suicide in 1994. This is an extreme example, but it is an example of what exposure can do to a human. It would be pretty hard to stay optimistic after seeing killings, corpses, anger, pain, starving children, etc. There is also a fine line between exposure effecting just a way of thought and character, to flat out depression. Eventhough depression has been linked to pessimism.
10. Good Evidence. - TV News, Newspapers, Internet. We as a society are exposed to so much. More than ever before. We know now have 24.7 access to the world tragedies. TV News have nothing but tragedy after tragedy reporting. Shootings. Accidents. Bankruptcies. Deaths. Scandals. Cheating. Global Warming. The list goes on. In this type of climate, the skepticism and pessimism, for some, may be hard to avoid.

Everyone at some point in their life experiences pessimistic moments. Moment may last an hour, a day, a week, a year, or forever. The key is to loath if you must, but stay optimistic, improve your attitude. Good and warm thoughts bring just that to your life, negative thoughts will only bring negative. I would rather be in the pursuit of happiness, than in the loathing of reality of the worlds tragedies.

Quotes on Pessimism:

"But against the palpably sophistical proofs of Leibniz that this is the best
of all possible worlds, we may even oppose seriously and honestly the proof that
it is the worst of all possible worlds. For possible means not what we may
picture in our imagination, but what can actually exist and last. Now this world
is arranged as it had to be if it were to be capable of continuing with great
difficulty to exist; if it were a little worse, it would be no longer capable of
continuing to exist. Consequently, since a worse world could not continue to
exist, it is absolutely impossible; and so this world itself is the worst of all
possible worlds." - – Schopenhauer, The
World as Will and Representation, Vol. II, Ch. 46

"The optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds.The pessimist fears it is true." - Robert Oppenheimer