Are Pessimist or Optimist the only choices? What's wrong with being a Realist or a Pragmatist?

I have nothing against optimism, per se, but I'm kinda rubbed the wrong way by self-proclaimed Optimists who feel the need to be all smug and self-congratulatory about it. They remind me of people who have Found God, or Quit Smoking, or just come out of an EST seminar, who have found The Answer and now think that the only thing keeping you off what is Most Clearly the Path of Enlightenment is your own stubborn ignorance and bad attitude.

FWIW, I know, and have known, many fine people who do and have done quite a lot of good in the world in small ways and large ways, who never felt the need to advertise how much they've helped people.

If you must have a label for it, you could as easily call some Optimists: Idealists, Romantics, Sentimental, Manic Depressives in the Up Cycle, or People Seriously In Denial (true example, a friend's mother whose favorite expression was "Act As If, And It Will Be", who never "perceived" that her husband was sexually molesting her daughter.)

Personally, I prefer to be around people who tell it like it is, who aren't afraid of reality, warts and all, who don't need to sugar coat everything and aren't afraid to face the world without their rose-coloured glasses.

Does that makes me a Pessimist? I don't think so. People who run around proclaiming that It All Sucks and The End is Near can be kind of hard to take, as well, although they're sometimes more entertaining.

There must a balance somewhere... This is not to say that I don't agree that a small shift in outlook can make a big difference in your life, because I DO know that to be true, but aren't we all to some extent victims (or beneficiaries) of our genetics and our brain chemistry and our happy or unhappy childhoods, and for all we know, our karma from previous lifetimes?