Have you had a crap day recently only to flip over your Metrocard, notice the word “optimism” printed on the back, and suddenly think, “Oh, yeah, optimism!” and suddenly your frown turned upside down? Of course you haven’t! Regardless, 7 million cards have already been distributed with the word “optimism” printed on the back, and 7 million more will be distributed in the coming weeks, all part of an effort to help downtrodden New Yorkers feel better about their lives, particularly when they’ve been standing on the subway platform for a half hour waiting for a goddamn train. “Yes, maybe that F train will come someday if I will it to through the power of positive thinking.” Good lord.

Reports the New York Times:

As unemployment in the city reaches a 16-year high, as corporations close and deficits mount, optimism has become a scarce commodity, aboveground and below. New York, it seems, could use a chance to restock.

“God knows people want to feel good, they want to feel up, they want to feel positive,” said Christopher P. Boylan, who oversaw the project at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. “If I can make a couple of customers smile a day, that’s nice.”

The work itself is the creation of Reed Seifer, a graphic artist and designer who first printed the “optimism” logo on small buttons that he distributed as a college student.

“I’ve always loved art that exists in unexpected places,” he said recently, near his home in Hell’s Kitchen. “I like that maybe not everyone’s going to see it. Or maybe one day you just look and say, ‘Oh.’ ”

This is probably the stupidest fucking thing I’ve ever heard of. Jesus Christ.