As soon as you all take your seats today's lesson will begin.
Alright, this evening we are talking about the word Agathist - derived from the Greek word 'agathos' meaning 'good'. More specifically, an agathist is a person who believes all things in general, the world included, are heading towards ultimate good. Hold on, does this sound familiar? Surely these people must be long lost cousins to our rosy-cheeked friends the optimists, right?
Well, sort of. Unlike optimists, who see the best in the present, always looking at the positive, agathists are less content with the now. An agathist sees the bad things that happen in the world and confronts tragedies such as earthquakes and wars, while maintaining the belief that all things will inevitably turn towards the good. They also understand the road to goodness may run straight through a lot of trouble.
For a long time, I didn't know how to categorize myself. I never considered myself an optimist, because I saw the utterly terrible things in this world and felt the weight of them on my heart. So, I thought myself a realist. Practical. Levelheaded. Reasonable. And yet, I've always had this inexplicable feeling that everything will be alright in the end - something a lot of realists don't have. I've always figured that somehow this crazy plot will work itself out. That despite the evilness that resides here, eventually good will triumph.
Just call me an agathist.
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