When people look at idealism, they see passivity. Naivete. Someone who’s uninformed, or worse, someone who refuses to accept the world for what it really is. Idealism, according to many, is for children or those who just don’t understand the harsh realities of this world we live in. Worse yet, say these pundits, idealists are those who are simply doomed to be let down, condemned to a life of disappointment.
However, as an idealist myself, I’m here to speak out against this misconception.
Sure, we idealists do dream of a better world, and we see the best in people - no matter what. Even after we’re proven that people aren’t always perfect, that people don’t have good intentions, we continue to have faith that people, overall, are good and can always be good.
Some might say that this is borne of pure stupidity or denial, that we’re sticking our heads in the sand so that we can ignore the problems and live in our own happy fantasy land. However, I call this persistent idealism, not stupidity, but bravery.
When the world shuts down every attempt at kindness and goodness, when every story in the news informs of increasing death tolls, impending doom, horrifying depravity, when all that people want to talk about is the problems, it takes genuine strength to find the good.
In a world where negativity prospers, idealists must fight, every single day, to remember that within all the sadness, spots of good exist. And more importantly, we see that with awful events happening, there is a way for us to improve, a place for us to push for change.
I am a student of psychology, and every day I see plenty of negativity within our world. Mental health is an area where the world too often implements the classic “ignore it and it’ll go away” approach, or worse, insists that mental health is simply unimportant. Mental health care remains expensive and hard to access for many, and anyone who isn’t neurotypical faces stigma daily.
After hearing over and over that mental health doesn’t matter, after knowing person after person who takes their own life, idealism is difficult. But I’ve found it—there will be a light at the end of the tunnel for all of us dealing with mental health issues…and if no one else will be that light, I will. So now, I’m a student of psychology, ready to channel my idealism and my passion into something that will help people lead better lives.
Other idealists often take a similar approach. They become the change that they wish to see in the world. In fact, many catalysts of paradigm-shifting change were idealists—Martin Luther King Jr’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech was built upon a foundation of idealism—dreams for a world where racism didn’t mean that black people had to lead inferior lives.
Was that “naïve?” Was that passive? No—this is a man who spoke for the change he wished to see, who used his voice to help the world be a better place. Malala Yousafzai believed that women’s education could, and should, improve—she believed in a world where women were educated and didn’t have to fight for their right to learn. And now, she’s mobilizing the world, uniting people to make that dream a reality. Idealists don’t simply allow dreams to remain abstract—many idealists mobilize, work, to make the potential we see a reality.
Even in our American political climate, idealism has its merits. In a world where our president is lauded not for his credentials, but for his inflammatory statements, in a world where we've just experienced the largest mass shooting in American history, in a world where the possibility of conflict looms at every corner, we need those who can see the brighter side.
We need those who, instead of accepting our reality, work to make a change, or even just point out that there are always beautiful facets of this world that we live in. When negativity seems overwhelming, the unflinching positivity that idealists bring is a breath of fresh air.
Idealism isn’t just an attitude for a child, or one for a starry-eyed dreamer who needs to wake up to the realities of a cruel, cruel world. It’s an attitude for those who believe in a better future, for those that believe that humanity can change for the better.
It’s an attitude for those who see the light at the end of the tunnel and are willing to show it to others. And most of all, it’s an attitude for the catalysts of change, those who dream just big enough to begin a revolution. We, idealists, believe that life is what we make it—and we plan to make it much better, both for us and those around us.
