never too old to be idealistic

My personal commitment to preserving an idealistic outlook on life is a calculated move. Some people think old idealists are fools, but I have known too many embittered old men to believe that. I understand how cranky codgers end up where they are, and I don't want to go there myself.

I would prefer to risk becoming an old fool over finding myself in an emotional space that is all about how inconvenient it is to me personally that there are so many people in the world who want to have a fair shot at acquiring the basic necessities of life.

I don't want to be prisoner of pessimism. I don't want to resign myself to the gloomy attitude that there is nothing any ordinary person like me can do about problems like climate change. I don't want to give up on the possibility of a future that is brightened by what I do rather than darkened by what I don't do. It is about being responsible, but it is also about the quality of my own life.