Optimism is it's own reward. Even if you're ultimately wrong, you end up in the same place but spent less time being miserable and afraid. Plus, you serve as a beacon to others staving off the insidiously creeping dangers of demoralization and panic.

When the Pessimist is wrong, they have unnecessarily subjected themselves to misery and fear and drug others down with them. Even if they are ultimately right, they have accomplished nothing but ruining what little time for happiness they had.

Some people mistakenly believe that if you're not living in fear, you must not be informed and prepared. I get informed and prepare so that I don't have to live in fear. I encourage others to believe that there's hope so that they do not give up early and stop trying to be informed and prepare.

The Pessimist does no favor to their compatriots when they point to the optimist and say to the crowd, "Don't look to him as a sign that there's hope. Look at him as a fool and believe that you HAVE NO HOPE."