I have for some time thought of myself as a realist, not so much in the sense that I am overly concerned for fact or reality and/or reject the impractical and visionary, but simply because I like to think that at least sometimes I have my feet halfway on the ground and think with a level head (I may be wrong on this one though, you tell me). However, itt seems that my notion of realism has been completely wrong.

I looked the term realist up in the dictionary and the definition of realism makes reference to the doctrine that universals exist outside the mind; specifically : the conception that an abstract term names an independent and unitary reality: or the theory that objects of sense perception or cognition exist independently of the mind -- and that can then lead to the issue of nominalism which is a whole different story.


Now, I of course wasn't relating what I was saying to any of this when I voiced to someone the other day that "I am a realist" in an attempt to express how based on past experience I didn't share her belief that a certain event would occur. But when I said it, she shot back with a thing or two that made me think about what I was really saying and it was very shortly thereafter that the title of this post (a Che Guevara quote) popped into my head...

So for what it's worth... you are right.

-If its difficult it may take a little while...if its impossible than it may take a little longer.