Brazil

Optimism isn't always all it's cracked-up to be.

I guess it depends on what your foundation for optimism is. Some base it on their faith in God, that He is faithful and can always be counted on to create something good out of even the worst of messes. This is certainly a solid reason for hope.

The optimism of others is planted firmly on the foundation of what they believe they can accomplish on their own merits; that they have the experience and wherewithal to create a good outcome, no matter what lies ahead. I like and admire those guys. I want to punch them in the nose sometimes, but I really like them.

There is an elite group of optimists that combine one or both of the above with an upbeat view of other people. They have an innate ability to focus on the positive characteristics of most people they meet. It's not that they don't see negative traits; they just try to overlook them. I've heard the statement made: "every man is my superior in some way." These CCOs (cream of the crop optimists) seem to get this. I like these people too, and it would be very, very bad to even think about punching them in the nose. They'd probably find a reason to thank you for it anyway.


"Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups."
< (Despair.com)

As a recovering sarcastiholic*, I have to point out another kind of optimist. They have a disorder I call the Union Member Syndrome. These are the ones who are optimistic only because they are too dull to see the predicament they have gotten themselves into, and would be too lazy to do anything about it if they did. Their optimism is founded solely in the expectation that someone is going to bail them out of every situation. With that in mind, their outlook is rosey because their view is only one crisis ahead. They don't manage their lives; they manage their emergencies. Pity the fool who has UMS but is working a non-union job. Those in union leadership who have the unenviable job of representing these people should get a purple heart and a lifetime supply of Tums.

In a back-handed (sarcastic) compliment someone once said "Brazil has a bright future and always will." I don't know anything about Brazil, but I think I know a lot of "Brazilians." They each have a union steward, and the future never comes.
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*sar.cas.ti.hol.ic [sar-cas-tuh-haw-lic]
-noun
1. Pathology. A person suffering from sarcasm-ism
2. A person addicted to getting the last word in.

The Naked City

I was born in 1958. That same year, a television show was born that had a run long enough for me to remember it. I didn't watch it, of course. I was into Bozo the Clown, Captain Kangaroo and Romper Room. My parents must have watched it a lot, however, because at the end of every show I remember an ominous voice that came on saying "There are eight million stories in the Naked City. This has been one of them."

I thought about that line today as I drove to work from having breakfast with a friend. He's someone that I've not known long, and whose experiences I have only begun to hear. He has a life that has been full and treacherous and uplifting and heartbreaking. He has a story. We all have a story.

I am a man most blessed with friends and loved ones who have heard or are willing to hear my story. I have found over the last ten years that telling that story is important. Telling your story solidifies it in your mind. It brings reason and truth to your experiences. It puts the chapters together for you, because until you tell your story, you don't realize that the parts you choose to tell connect in amazing ways to the parts you keep secret.

The chapters already written cannot be edited. The characters are already established. Many of them have had a major influence on the plot while others are bit players. The villains are in place, and the heroes are yet to be fully discovered. When you tell your story, you become the narrator, sharing only a chapter at a time and adding emphasis and drama for flair when appropriate. You skim over the mundane details to hold the interest of your listeners. It's your story, after all. It has to be interesting. It's what put you on the page today, now, this very minute.

Look around you. Make yourself aware of where you are, what you are doing, where you are sitting , how you are feeling. That is where the story has led thus far. It didn't just happen, it's part of the plot. What's next? How will it end? Will your character develop? Will your story matter?

Remember that there are "eight million" other stories out there. You are in many of those too. In some you are a major player - maybe a villain or a hero. In most you are a walk-on, a "man in doorway" or "women walking dog." What if you decided to be part of a happy ending - if not of the story, at least of a chapter? Would it change your role?

Tell your story. If you aren't connected to someone who will listen, then go out and listen to the stories of others until it's your turn to talk. When it is, tell it the way it was written without the edits and without the eraser. You will see it in a way that just mulling it over on your pillow at night never allowed you to.

You will see that you can have the editor's pen and decide how it ends. You're the hero, it just hasn't been written as such. Yet.