This statement doesn’t represent a perpetually sunny disposition on my part. Nor is it about shielding my eyes from the woes of the world, which are many and deserve serious attention. Rather it serves as a reminder of the choices I have in my approach to other people and my life as a whole. It’s more about tolerance than anything else, about reason and responsiveness over reaction.
With all life’s ups and downs, and its countless limitations on my control over it, I need to keep as positive an attitude as possible, to retain a belief that I have some control, to remember a smile opens more doors—and hearts—than a frown, a soft word more than a harsh one. No matter what happens to me, I have choices.
I find a rose-colored perspective toward others and myself is the best choice. Of course there are exceptions to every rule. I need to be realistic about my weaknesses and shortcomings, or I’ll never overcome them. And I wouldn’t greet a mugger with a smile and sweetly hand over my purse, unless I thought that approach might save my life. Letting others control me isn’t the same as following a responsible leader.
But when was the last time someone spoke testily to you, you in turn spoke gruffly back, and an argument ensued, or one walked away angry, feelings took a nosedive, and the entire encounter was spoiled as a result? Have you ever taken insult with someone’s inadvertent comment? If instead you’d been more gentle in response, considered they may not have meant to be so harsh with you, that their behavior may have been the residual effect of something else, or their intent completely harmless, would it have made a difference? In my life I’ve found it usually does.
This rose-colored-glasses approach doesn’t always work, and I’m certain I don’t always exercise it. I have my moods, too. But I’m positive that how we manage to keep the peace in our personal lives has some effect on the world at large, that anything we do toward fostering peace in our everyday interactions will help head the world in the direction of greater global peace.
So why not put on your rose-colored glasses, and become peace for a day, if for no other reason, just to see how it feels?
