Well, yes, I have at times seen the glass as half empty.  I need not explain myself but, since this arose, I think I will avail myself of my bully pulpit and tell you some things about negativity and glasses, full, half full or half empty.

The smiling faces in imaginary towns inhabited by Stepford Wives and Truman Villages are the product of falling in line, hearing the beat of a single drum and being good little followers who never deviate from the “Party” line.  I usually vote Democratic but am not wedded to its politics.  I do not follow the party line but am absolutely against the party which slows down progress and denies people, qualified or not, life sustaining help when they are in need.

I see the glass as a whole glass and don’t know if it is half this or half that.  I need to know if it is clean and sometimes, despite its looks, I will get a napkin and polish it again and again.  I have this thing about germs and really do not want to drink from the same spot someone else just did.  I am compulsive about touching elbows with others to say hello or goodbye because shaking hands passes germs from one to the other.  I rarely have seen anyone put his or her elbow into his or her mouth. The glass, you know, only has the value you place in it or what it contains.

Being negative for the sake of being against something makes no sense.  You have to have a reason for your position.  Just because a whole group of other guys are for something does not mean you HAVE to join them and be for that too.  What are the issues and what are the ideas that have their support?  That is one reason I do not go crazy during any of the game seasons.  I do not follow sports and contribute to making a good player – or even a great player – a little god for the brief period they are pain free and can continue to be the hero or heroine in their chosen activity.  It is strange for me to observe that so many others who do not play get so excited when THEIR team wins or THEIR hero does some impossible physical act that will cripple him or her for the rest of their lives.  The non-participatory chauvinist, except for the noise he makes in the audience, is one person for whom the glass is not full if his team is not winning.  I could care less.

There are just too many people who accept the “status quo” without questioning although they may not like parts of their lives mandated by the needs and demands of others.  You CAN go it alone or be a curmudgeon. At times that is what I choose to be. You have to be able to see the whole glass in its half full or half empty conditions.  You know, just as you have to know the other side’s reasoning in order to understand it and be able to adjust in order to compromise.  A glass is just a glass. What it contains is as important as you want it to be.