It's not really the pessimism, you could easily argue that a degree of vigilance is healthy, it's simply the rut of turmoil that catches my attention. Does it really need to follow that a sense of disempowerment, must lead to constant self-pity?

I've always held that the worst personal tragedy, would be death. I don't believe there's anything beyond death however, so being rendered a corpse can't hold any strong emotional response. It's simply an existence without consciousness. Yet death is still a frightening thought and as far as I can tell, this is because my plans, goals and relationships would be scuppered, or at least not self-realized. You can understand then, how a life of complaint without action would seem terrible to me. That said, I do very little to change the world around me, beyond turning one head at a time.