Words of Wisdom,  04/24/20

I told you in my last message to avoid watching the news, that it would just produce more anxiety.  I generally stand by that advice, but, if you have to watch the news, tune into the last five minutes of the national network news.  That is when they air what used to be called, “Happy News,” which nowadays means human interest stories of normal people doing heroic things for their fellow citizens.  You can never have too many stories like those.

There is an old expression that says, “The optimist sees the glass as half-full, the pessimist sees it as half-empty and the person who’s really struggling can’t find the glass at all.”  I got to thinking, what does a half-full glass look like in the time of Covid-19?  I believe it has four key ingredients.  Mix equal parts:  Hope, Faith, Trust and Love.

Hope is the sincere belief that all this will end, sooner or later.  Hope tells us that when it does end, we’ll all be there for each other with big smiles, warm wishes and, most of all, major hugs.

Faith, to some, means being grounded in a religious background; to others it means a belief in a power greater than themselves and to still others it means a belief in the goodness of the world.

Trust is a word that sets off alarm bells for many because they have had their trust betrayed in the past, but Trust is an essential part of the recipe even if it only means that you are dedicating yourself to being trustworthy.

And love, perhaps the most important ingredient.  This is the love that goes way beyond your love of your family, your pet or your sweetheart.  This is the love that must be present in the half-full glass because it is the love that connects us and binds us all together.  This is the love that guarantees that we as humans will survive this tough time.

So, go mix yourself a half-full glass and take a long drink.