Half Full

I have learned many lessons over the course of my life, some good, and some bad. One of the lessons that has helped to bolster my prosperity in this world has been the idea of always surrounding myself with positive minded folks who have a optimistic perspective on life. The world we currently live in is oftentimes dark, cold and unforgiving. Pain and suffering can sometimes hop onboard the life of even the most undeserving of us.
Because of this, I have learned that our only real defense is to shield ourselves in the cloak of faith and to arm ourselves with the ability to see beauty even in the ugliest of situations.

It takes strength and courage to mentally maintain a positive outlook on life—especially during those moments in life when there is honestly no visible light at the end of the tunnel. It’s easy to smile when a crafty joke catches us by surprise or when everything in our world is in order and filled with joy. But it takes a certain amount of strength to smile when your life has become a combination of disasters and misfortune and pain. To smile in the face of adversity as the bible instructs requires a certain amount of confidence and faith in the overall design and purpose of things that is both inspiring and impressive.

I have met people who could stare into the eyes of death and struggle, and smile. They were at peace. They were happy. In the middle of life’s deadliest storm, in the mist of losing everything they cherished in the world, these people looked into my eyes and smiled. Like the man who was paralyzed in a multi-car accident and broke down in tears, thanking God for the good fortune and blessing of being alive. He could have been bitter at the drunk driver who caused such a senseless tragedy. He could have turned angry toward God and cursed the undeserving punishment as an act of unjustified spite. He could have become a miserable and withdrawn man, pushing everyone who attempted to connect with him and love him away. But instead, he had the spiritual strength to see beauty in a very nasty situation.

His story moved me. I am touched by the human ability to overcome adversity in spirit. They are the ultimate testimony of a higher power in my eyes. Because I know how the average person deals with destruction. I know how I used to deal with pain and disappointment. So it has to be a spirit moving inside of them that is more powerful than us. And I am awed by this. I seek it out in everyone I meet.

I know how easily negative perspectives on life can seep in and steal away whatever joy we have left in life. I have known people who were so caught up in what’s wrong with their life that they never got a chance to enjoy the things that were right. The mother who loses a child to a horrible tragedy, spends so many years morning the loss that she forgets that she has another, living child that needs her.

The old question of “Is this glass half empty or half full?” is actually a serious question that can ultimately tell us a lot about the way a person is naturally inclined to view life. I seek out those who see the glass as half full. I am a romantic. I am too passionate for my own good sometimes. I am the boring dreamer who still stares at the clouds some days and picks out the designs of faces and images. I have blind faith in a higher purpose. This childlike belief in a design beyond my understand makes it easy for me to not accept life at face value. It enables me to experience hardship and difficulty and problems and pain and heartache, to morn and grieve my loss, yet still have faith in a brighter day tomorrow, to still enjoy—truly enjoy--the taste of a strawberry Popsicle an hour after a funeral. I am a very sensitive man. I feel compassion for my fellow human beings deeply—sometimes too deeply, the story of injustice by my fellow man in a country thousands of miles from me can bring tears to my eyes and inspire me to attempt to write and fight on their behalf—but at the same time, I still am able to appreciate the life I now have, however disorganized, however uncertain, however painful, however disappointing, however sad, because it is all I have.

In poker, you are not always dealt pocket aces, which is the best starting hand possible. Sometimes, you just have to make the best out of the hand that you are dealt. That is what I do in life. I make the best of what I have, all the while understanding that it could be much better, but accepting it for what it temporarily is, and making the best out of it.

When we focus solely on the things that are wrong with our world, we oftentimes lose sight of all the things that are right with it. The confidence it takes to remain positive in even the worst of circumstances is amazingly attractive to me.