The euro, born amid optimism some 20 months ago, suffered the worst day of its young life yesterday, as it lost 2.3percentt of its value against the dollar, settling at 87.01 cents.
It is as though McIlroy can no longer allow himself to trust the best of himself, that game which was such a wonder of skill and natural-born optimism.
A country born with great optimism in 2011 is now in despair.
But if the plastic house was virtually indestructible, the spirit of optimism born of technological progress proved less so.
But perhaps not surprisingly for a club short on history and money, the optimism born of that victory has been imperiled by issues of logistics and organization.
The optimism born of the late 1990's boom was exaggerated, but it will take time for investors and consumers to conclude that was the case.
The brief optimism born of a public rebellion against early proposals for ground zero has long since given in to cynicism.
The key lyric – "Heaven knows, it's got to be this time" – is the sound of optimism born through crisis: the band's delicate crawl from the wreckage into an uncertain new future produces a New Order classic.
Born amid international optimism and local euphoria in 2011, South Sudan plunged into civil war in December 2013 when President Salva Kiir, a Dinka, accused his former vice-president, Riek Machar, a Nuer, of plotting a coup.
I can't give a definite answer, but I think the joy comes from seeing and living through the worst that life can offer; it is an optimism born of hope.
