I'm a realist and an optimist too, yet I can clearly see ample hope and realized opportunity for our species. It's not unrealistic to remind yourself that eucatastrophe is our ultimate end, not existential dread and defeat. That is what being an optimist and a realist really means. It means never giving up on the reality of the cosmos and the laws that govern it, and knowing full well your place in things, and finding hope in your place.

There is plenty of hope for our kind, chances are slim for them. Never forget this. If there was only one unconquered human on this Earth, then our kind would still have better chances for success than them. This is the fact of the cosmos: life-affirmation will always defeat life-negation. What you seem confused over is the amount of time it takes for this victory to actualize itself. Sure, things are tight right now, and they've been tight all these past centuries, but that has no bearing on the actual ending of this story. The ending is one of truth, life, and just completion. That is nature.

What they are trying to do is untenable for nature to hold up forever. It has to end, and since our species has created strong rebellious figures and continues to do so, I foresee it ending with us. Whatever is happening on this planet is coming to a close, and the life-affirming reality that is around the corner can be clearly seen and felt. Indeed, religious folks of all cultures have been arguing over this eventuality for all of recorded history. It has been felt by the sensitive for thousands of years, and they never gave up hope. I stand with them, those humans of the past who never allowed for an inch of despair into their perspectives. Life should give you endless amounts of hope, unless something is wrong with you, at which point you should realize what's happening and recapitulate the lessons of eucatastrophe back into your life.