Wednesday's Rant by Andrea McCall

Andrea's "rant" this week is less of a rant and more of an insightful observation and life lesson.

I HAD AN INTERESTING conversation with my friend, Keith, the other day.  I have known Keith for over twenty years, when my husband and I lived with him before we were married.  Keith is probably one of the “smartest” people I know.  When I say that, I don’t mean only the academic kind—I mean the “life” kind, which, I believe, is way more important than the other.  Keith studies and applies what he has learned about human nature through his life experiences, and trust me, he has had many “out of the box” experiences and witnessed how people react to them.

We were discussing the situation with my mother-in-law and I was explaining how things didn't look so good.  He was mildly surprised by my story because he has a mutual friend of my brother-in-law (who was in Hamilton with her).  My brother-in-law had been calling this friend and giving him updates on the situation. The updates he was hearing were quite different from what I was telling him. I guess they talked about how she had woken up and things were looking up. I myself was shocked. She had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and they gave her days to live.  In the midst of this conversation he threw out the comment, “Ya, but you are such a pessimist.” Again, shocked. I had never been called a pessimist in my life and I truly strive not to live my life in that manner.

I asked him what he meant by that and he said that I was looking at the down side of the situation, and didn't sound like I had any hope. I then went on to explain to him that I believed that I was a realist, not a pessimist and I feel that there is a huge difference.  I looked up the definition on the internet and I found, “A state characterized by a negative outlook. The expectations of bad outcomes.” 

In my mind, that wasn’t how I was reacting at all. The news we were receiving was not good, but if there had been something to be positive about, I would have been excited to hear that news. As a realist, I prepared for the worst, but hoped for the best.

I am not so sure he agreed with me about all the concepts I presented, but I don't believe he truly thinks that I live my life pessimistically.  I believe we need to take important life lessons from all of the good and bad situations we are handed and move forward, embracing every moment.

In loving memory of my wonderful mother-in-law, Gail Patricia McCall.  She is loved and very much missed.

Download this week's rant here: Download Wed_Rant_29Oct2008.pdf

Comments

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Andrea, we are sorry for your loss.