BEING OPTIMISTIC

There once was a woman who had only three hairs. “I think I’ll braid my hair today,” she said, and off to work she went.
The next day she had only two hairs. “I think I’ll part it down the middle today,” she said, and off to work she went.
The next day she awoke to find herself with only one hair. “I think I’ll make a pony tail today,” she said, and off she went to work.
On the fourth day the woman woke to find that she was now completely bald. “Oh joy,” said she. “Now I won’t have to spend so much time doing my hair!”
Barb sent me this little story. She wrote that it made her think of me because I am always so optimistic. Now that remark definitely made me laugh.
I guess I don’t see that much of Barb. We only get together on Thursday evenings and Sunday mornings. And when we talk we’re usually doing a bad thing because we’re either supposed to be singing, or being quiet so other people can learn their choir parts, or paying attention to whatever is going on in church. When I think of it that way, I suppose I can understand why she seems to think I am more optimistic than I sometimes feel.
My buddy Lenora sees me from a different angle. We attend the same meetings—staff meetings, planning meetings, organizational meetings, etc. She sees the experienced me, the me who has been around long enough to have seen a lot of things tried before. She sees the cautious me, the me who wants to be careful not to repeat past mistakes. She sees the reluctant me, the me who doesn’t want to volunteer too much too soon. She says that sometimes, when I get going, throwing water on a promising fire with my practical, businesslike, hope-sucking talk, she feels like she’ll just have to kill me. This would scare me, except for the fact that killing me would simply heap a lot more work on her. So I know I’m safe, even as I’m being warned.
Lenora has taught me something I should have already known, since I so often try to teach it to others. She has taught me that hope is an emotional thing that can easily be wounded by a pessimist hiding behind the mask of practicality and experience. She has taught me to think carefully before I step forward to crush hope.
And Barb? Well, Barb has reminded me that when it comes to the fun stuff, for it is the fun stuff that she and I usually do together, when it comes to the fun stuff it isn’t hard to be optimistic.