Being an Optimist

   

Every one of us has friends, right? Of course, we do. There’s this friend of mine who’s doing something worth eulogizing. Her name is Richa. What is the first thing that we do when we see a stray dog approaching our way? Do we feed him? Certainly Not. Do we hug him and shelter him from scorching heat/chilling cold? We don’t do that, right? We would shoo him away by tossing a stone in his vicinity or by pelting him with stones. But that’s not how she lives by. She is modest and humble in every aspect. She is an animal lover and is currently looking after the dogs of her locality by providing them food, clothes, and shelter. One day I was conversing with her and upon being asked what was her ultimate goal in life, she replied, “I want to open an NGO for animals, where they could be fed and taken care of but due to lack of funds I want to secure myself a job first. My only and only dream is to help animals.” I was so pleased to hear that and wished her luck on her journey. She told me that she was a bit under the weather but the only thing that didn’t stop her from going out was dogs. Even with her severe headache, when she was supposed to rest, she went out to feed the dogs that were waiting on her hand and foot. An optimist is a person that sees the good and brings out the good in others. He knows how to make someone laugh and how to comfort someone when it comes to the pinch. It is not her moral obligation to feed dogs but it is the quality of righteousness that pushes her to do noble deeds. Just like King Midas, whose slightest touch could turn anything into gold, an optimist’s touch can have the same effect on others.

 I remember being presented with a situation where we were asked to describe a glass, which was half-filled with water. It was not a hard nut to crack. A fellow of mine got up from his seat and replied, “Sir, It’s half empty.” The questioner gave a casual nod on hearing his reply and made him sit down on his chair. I knew that there was something more or less to it and I was getting close to it. Meanwhile, another fellow stood up from his chair and replied, “It needs to be filled as it’s half empty.” The questioner again nodded casually and said, “You are close. Would anyone else want to describe it?” I knew what I had to say so I stood up and went on to describing the glass. On hearing my version, the questioner turned to the glass for a wee bit and replied, “Very well. This is the reply I have been waiting for since the moment y’all were asked to describe this glass and no one saw it from his perspective. This is how you got to see things. While everyone was busy focusing on the empty section, he was the one who pointed out that the glass was half-filled.”

An OPTIMIST would always look for a silver lining whereas a PESSIMIST focuses on the stumbling blocks.