Optimal optimism

A dear friend, bright and beautiful, sent yesterday a pamphlet.
To cheer up probably.
Because life is a little difficult now that the concept of being together with someone has changed to being with no one.
And this the dear friend and many others know and they all do a lot so that the sun is seen shining again.



The pamphlet is called "The Optimist Creed" and is published by "Optimist International".
An American organization based in Missouri.
Promoting itself with these words:

"Optimist International is an association of more than 2,900 Optimist Clubs around the world dedicated to "Bringing Out the Best in Kids."
Adult volunteers join Optimist Clubs to conduct positive service projects in their communities aimed at providing a helping hand to youth.
With their upbeat attitude, Optimist Club members help empower young people to be the best that they can be.
Each Optimist Club determines the needs of the young people in its community and conducts programs to meet those needs. Every year, Optimists conduct 65,000 service projects and serve well over six million young people."

Back to the pamphlet "The optimist Creed".
It asks to promise yourself 10 things.
That's a lot!
How to even remember all of those 10 promises?
And then, how realistic are they?

Promise 1.
To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

Promise 2.
To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.

Promise 3.
To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.

Promise 4.
To look at the sunny side of everything and to make your optimism come true.

Promise 5.
To think only of the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the best.

Promise 6.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.

Promise 7.
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.

Promise 8.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.

Promise 9.
To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.

Promise 10.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

Be aware, fervent and loyal blog readers, these are promises.
Not ten commandments.
And be also aware that if you manage to 100 % live these promises and you manage to completely fulfill them, you are a Zen Master, an angel and Barack Obama, all in one person.
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To learn more about Optimist International, click on:

http://www.optimist.org/






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This man once was a Chinese Princess.

What if you are a man and were to be dressed up as an oriental girl?
To be paraded around town sitting in a man-pulled rickshaw?

Most male fervent and loyal blog readers will deny to accept this imagination by saying that such an event is most unlikely to ever happen in the life.

And this is granted.
Who would cross-dress you and next parade you publicly?
You don’t have friends or enemies like that!

Some centuries ago in Europe, as a kind of punishment, they would put pitch and feathers on a person and make him or her walk the streets to the amusement of the public.
And when the Second World War was over, women who had been having relationships with occupying German soldiers, had their hair shaved off their heads and were forced to walk the streets to be covered by spit and phlegm of punishing compatriots.
Often with the half German baby in their arms.

In Europe they have also another way to parade in the streets.
This happens when they celebrate Carnival.
It is happening in Roman Catholic countries in early Spring.
People put on the most weird costumes and dance in the streets.
They also organize parades and groups from society participate trying to stand out by a very original presentation of a theme or a subject.

In this context of Carnival it happened that a boy scouts group decided to participate in the street parade.
They came up with the idea to pretend to be a delegation from China.
So, all the boy scouts were dressed up in silk pajamas.
Wearing wok-shaped hats.
From which long black tails dangled.
And the skin of the boy scouts was painted yellow.
Of course there was also a Chinese Princess sitting in a rickshaw pulled by her loyal staff and she was the climax of the parading group.

As most fervent and loyal blog readers already have understood, this Chinese Princess was yours truly.
In a stunning kimono.
Wearing a wig of black hair.
And red lipstick and mascara.
Oh la la.

Yes, the life of the pioneering photographer has been exciting from a very early age on.
Since he was a boy scout for sure.

But events in life like having been pulled through the streets of the hometown dressed up as a Chinese Princess has tremendous repercussions.

To begin with, the event must be processed in a positive way.
That one doesn’t traumatize oneself believing to have been the local laughingstock.
Or to get doubts about the correct sexual orientation.

It is for sure that when the managers of the boy scouts were looking for a candidate to be the Chinese Princess, many boys probably refused.
What boy wants to be made into a girl?
Unfortunately, the memory is completely blank when trying to remember what have been the considerations to accept to be the Chinese Princess.
And that’s scary.

There is a picture where one can see the protagonist in the rickshaw dressed up as the Chinese Princess using with elegance an oriental fan.
A picture that is not in the Fuso Szulc and probably in the possession of a family member in the Netherlands.
However, that picture is burned on the retina like a tattoo on the arm.
And when that picture shows up in the memory the question rises time and time again: for heaven’s sake, why did you ever do that?

Now, to be dressed as a Chinese Princess driven through town in a rickshaw to be laughed at by the local population during Carnival is not the same as to be covered by pitch and feathers or to have the hair shaven from the head because of cooperating traitorously with the enemy.
But this conviction needs some work.
To come to the ultimate conclusion not to have been an idiot whatsoever.

One way of doing this, besides psychotherapy, is to bring it out into the open.
To reveal the truth publicly and internationally.
To lift off the seriousness of the event.
Not to have that experience from the past hidden viciously and destructively in a corner of the memory.
No!
Just throw it in the open!
And combine this with humor.
To laugh about oneself.
Together with the others.
What’s wrong to have been crazy once?

To become beyond shame and embarrassment.







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+ and -

Many fervent and loyal blog readers will remember a recent posting about a woman whose son was killed.
How she went to the prison where the killer was locked up.
How she had a confrontation with the criminal and was able to forgive him.

There is a second part to this story.

Once this remarkable lady had been able to forgive the killer of her son, she had herself trained as a social worker.
Specialised in assisting and guiding drug addicts.
We must remember that the killer of her son was a young man addicted to drugs.
And that he committed his fatal crime while under the influence.

Her work became one of the efforts to have young people that fall victim to drugs-use see this is not the way to live.

There is another friend who lost her two children in traffic accidents.
She was so incredibly devastated by these events: she lost any appetite for life.
And eventually killed herself with an overdose of sleeping tablets.
This was a very tragic event, not in the least for her close friends.

We may wonder why one person is able to sublimate a dramatic event in life and the other is not.
To turn negativity into positivism.

There must be an inner power.
Elements in the core.
Substance in the heart and soul.
That is able to handle negative input in a way that it changes into positive output.

Characteristics of a personality we call optimism or pessimism.
One can be an optimist.
Or one can be a pessimist.

Obviously, going through life as an optimist is by far the preferred way.
But it is not something that can be learned.
Someone is an optimist or a pessimist by nature.

There may be explanations to understand why someone is able to sublimate and why another person is unable.
Why one is an optimist by nature and another a pessimist.
However, every explanation is a speculation.
An interpretation.
There is no absolute truth in this matter.
No scientific explanation.

Nevertheless, pessimists are bombarded by methods promising a change.
Methods to have a negative approach to existence u-turned into always seeing the bright side of life.
Several of these methods actually work.
By putting a layer on top of the personality of the pessimist.
The natural pessimism is covered completely and life is lived from a doctrine.

But is real change of a personality possible?
Fundamentally?
Drastically?
Don’t be too optimistic about that!
Or be pessimistic, if you prefer.




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Sturdy steps

In a fish restaurant in Temecula, California, USA.

Upon entering the eating place a large aquarium.
Inside a large yellow eel that was remembered from a previous visit to this restaurant more than a year ago.
So this eel was spending his life in a space that must be for him extremely small used as he is to the ocean where he can’t reach the end.
Would an eel be aware of this?
And be upset about his confinement?

Obviously these kinds of thoughts, that may result in sadness and being upset about the faith of the eel, are not intended by the restaurant staff.
The aquarium is there to give you a good feeling.
About the sea.
About fish.
And you are not supposed to realise that fish are brutally caught, killed, slaughtered, butchered, cooked and swallowed.

The menu offered all kinds of fish.
Like “Butterfish fas”.
Now, what is “fas”?
The waitress was asked this question and “fas” means “frozen at sea”.
Good to know because it means the fish has not been caught and been rotting on the ship until finally a freezer was found once arrived in harbour.

The menu also offered freshly caught Abalone from Mexico.
At $ 65 per person.
Oh dear, oh dear, the economic times are so hard on us.

But it seems that there are still people who order Abalone.
Otherwise they wouldn’t bring it to the restaurant.
Eating a plate of the edible mollusk of the warm seas that has a shallow ear-shell lined with mother-of-pearl and pierced with respiratory holes.
For a price a person could live of for one week when shopping at “Food4Less” supermarket.

So, the conversation with the two best friends quickly turned to a vital question: “Did you ever make a real big mistake in your life?”
The friends are a couple.
The man was thinking and eventually said: “No”.
The woman was thinking and said: “Yes”.
Because, once in her life, she had had a woman friend she had totally trusted.
But this trust had been shattered: the friend had betrayed her.

Of course the two men in her company insisted immediately this could not be considered a real big mistake in her life.
It is never a mistake to trust someone.
It is a big mistake not to respect the trust that is offered and accepted.

Maybe there are only two real big mistakes a human being can make.
The first one is to terminate the life of another person.
And the other big mistake is to finish the own life.
Besides that, everything else are sturdy steps of the dance life is.




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Today no posting

What is a blog writer supposed to do when he really is not in the mood to write?
When there is no inspiration.
Not a good idea for a subject.
When there is no feeling of connection with the fervent and loyal blog readers?

And it is only natural there is no ambition today to write a posting.
Because Guerrero Negro in Baja California, Mexico has been reached and this is the most forlorn place on earth.
Always windy, cold, salty, poor and shabby.
No prosperity whatsoever and for sure it is the last stop before hell.

No ambition because the beautiful weather, the sunshine and the blue skies and the warm temperatures enjoyed for over 5 months, have ended when Guerrero Negro was reached.
Now the sky is grey and it is cold.
Depressing weather, for sure when the merciless wind will start to blow later this morning.
Carrying dust and salt to cover all human presence.

No good mood to write a posting for the blog because recently a pearl was found.
Of great beauty.
The pearl fitted perfectly in the shell but the next thing that happened was that it all evaporated in thin air.
Pushing the mood down to even more dangerous levels.

So, what to do when not in the mood to write a posting?
Simple.
Follow the inner voice and spend time in a different way.
The fervent and blog readers will understand why today there is no posting.
(He is not in the mood!!!)



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