Inspired to Reality

One of my favorite inspirational people was Ronald Reagan. Say what you want about the man’s politics but you have to admit he was an amazing optimist.

There was a joke that he told to his Cabinet, that I hope can help you look on the bright side.

A couple had two twin boys about 6 years old that they believed had both developed extreme personalities and they could never seem to get along. The one boy was total pessimist and the other was an total optimist. To try and solve the problem, the couple took the two boys to a renowned psychiatrist.

First the psychiatrist treated the pessimist. Trying to brighten his outlook, the psychiatrist took him to a room piled to the ceiling with brand-new toys. But instead of yelping with delight, the little boy burst into tears. “What’s the matter?” the psychiatrist asked, baffled. “Don’t you want to play with any of the toys?” “Yes,” the little boy bawled, “but if I did I’d only break them.”

Next the psychiatrist treated the optimist. Trying to dampen his out look, the psychiatrist took him to a room piled to the ceiling with horse manure. But instead of wrinkling his nose in disgust, the optimist emitted just the yelp of delight the psychiatrist had been hoping to hear from his brother, the pessimist. Then he clambered to the top of the pile, dropped to his knees, and began gleefully digging out scoop after scoop with his bare hands. “What do you think you’re doing?” the psychiatrist asked, just as baffled by the optimist as he had been by the pessimist. “With all this manure,” the little boy replied, beaming, “there must be a pony in here somewhere!”

So as the joke around the White House was when ever life served you a pile of manure to the ceiling….Dig and think there’s gotta be a pony in here somewhere!

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