May 31, 2006
Bill Moyers
The Italian philosopher Antontio Gramsci once explained that he practiced “the pessimism of the intellect” and the “optimism of the will.” Me, too. My day job as a journalist is to see the world as it is, without whitewash or illusions. But I am also a father, grandfather, husband, neighbor, and citizen. Like everyone else I have some responsibility, as I pass through, to help fix what’s broken. “Pessimism of the intellect” requires of the journalist candor in reporting, facing the facts in what can be an impossible world. But “optimism of the will” means expecting a confident future and getting out of bed every morning to do something to help bring it about.