A Tale of Two Glasses....

One of the most common ways to judge somebody's outlook on life is the process of their reaction towards a half-filled glass. Is it halfway full? Or is it halfway empty? Of course, the few times I've been asked if I'm a "Glass Half-full or a Glass Half-empty" guy, I usually say something like "It all depends on who's buying," or "Who's been drinking out of my glass?!?"

Unfortunately, a person's outlook on life can't be bottled into one of two categories. We all have our days of Half-full, and our days of "Who's been drinking my Kool-aid?" In my years on this planet I've never met anyone who is consistently positive or negative. I know plenty who reside on either side for the majority, but never completely.

I, myself, am one of those who have tended to focus more on the negative side of things for a while. As I've aged I've become more jaded, cynical and angry at everything. I believe almost all politicians are whores, selling themselves to the highest bidder regardless of what their constituents want. As long as they get re-elected, its good business. I also believe the government, as a whole, needs fixing. Businesses can be "too big to fail", and are propped up by our tax dollars, so the rich folks don't stop getting their spa treatments. Yet small businesses get no relief whatsoever. Small businesses that are Owner-operated, and usually staffed with people trying to start a career. The those small businesses fail. And all their employees can't pay their bills. They lose their homes, their cars, their everything. Why? Because of the F'd-up banks. The same F'd-up banks that were given money specifically to loan to these small businesses. The banks thought it better to hang on to the money or send it overseas as investments.

It's hard for anyone these days not to have a negative outlook. We're in a financial crisis that is the worst that the majority of us have ever experienced. Caused by the people that received the most backing from the government. It's not right, and if it isn't illegal, it should be.

But, all of that aside, there are a lot of positives to all of this. Points I try to focus on to avoid being a negative person. All over the globe we have communities banding together, families pulling in and helping each other, and in some places a wonderful sense of camaraderie.

People joining together, to help each other no matter what. It's a good theory. But unfortunately not likely to happen in the US. We're too political. One side wants to work, be responsible for oneself, support oneself. The other side believes people are entitled to the basics of life, or hand-outs.

With all this in-fighting, greed, selfishness, and animosity, how can we not have a bitter opinion of the world around us? Actually, that's an easy question to answer.

Look around you. Look at all the people you care about. Think of all they've done for you, and all you've done for them. And all that you're willing to do for each other in the future.

And if you're lucky like me, there might be a couple people that you know you can count on, no matter what. That's all I need.


I'm done.

Goodnight / Good Day / Whatever

-B-


"To act coolly, intelligently and prudently in perilous circumstances is the test of a man - and also a nation." -- Adlai Stevenson