Irritation and Idealism

I am irritated today. I am irritated because my AOL is not working. I am not being able to check my e-mail from work and I feel utterly and completely cut off from my friends. Okay, I am being overly dramatic, but I like to know if I have e-mail or not. The next part of this post is not so clearly formed in my head, so please bear with me if it is not succinctly written. As for Idealism, in our class discussion last night we were discussing being motivated out of love versus being motivated out of fear. Most of the people in my class felt that people are motivated in their actions out of fear rather than love, though most felt that it is a higher level to be motivated by love. I realized what an idealist I am because I really feel that people are motivated by love rather than fear. I don't feel like everyday actions are predicated with the thought of consequence first. I also argued that children can be taught by parents to act out of love for others rather than fear of punishment. Most of the class disagreed. It is becoming a common occurrence. I don't think I realized that most people are so cynical about life and act out of fear of punishment rather than respect for other human beings and their rights. I am wrong to think that way? Am I going to suffer for my idealism later? I hope not, I would rather go around giving people the benefit of the doubt, otherwise I think I would find it very hard to trust anyone else. I find it extremely discouraging to think that most people have this view of their fellow humans. I hope that this class, in addition to irritating me, will not cause me to lose part of my idealism also.