Pragmatism

I believe in pragmatism. It is as simple as I can think. Not a clichéd title that all politicians or business men say they are but a value that I was always told I should have. And while I am still used to being more critical of a person, I have learned not to shoot things down quite as easily as before. While realists provide nice contrast to the world, creativity has given us our greatest ideas. And most of us shoot for that title.

In seventh grade seminar we were trying to come up with ideas for our environmental project. To say it quite frankly we were stumped. The group was filled with 4 people, me and three others. While I just didn’t feel like putting an idea out there, the other three were what most kids are. Idealist, hopeful, and unwilling to give up an idea. While this is what most kids should be, I frowned upon these traits. But after a half an hour passed we were doing our routine. They’d come up with an idea, and I’d just think of a way for it not to work. In very simple terms it became tiring. We eventually came to the idea of going around a circle and writing down ideas. For about three rounds I had just built on other ideas, or shut one down. We were all annoyed and worn out. With five minutes left I remembered an article in the paper about a Jersey recycling company. This wasn’t a nothing to lose situation, I knew that I would be under harsh criticism from whom I had just shot down ideas. Well, to my surprise it worked, and we are still working on it today.

This experience wasn’t conventional learning for me. Instead it built upon what I was told for my whole learning career. Because when any of us think of great minds, their intelligence was only half of their success; their creativity was the driving force to make themselves known. But also realists have kept the world in check. For our most conventional ideas were made possible by realistic thinkers. But the best of both words is pragmatism. I believe that no issue or idea is black and white. There is gray in the middle. And pragmatism helps humans reach it.