Is This A Wonderful Day Or Not?

As the early morning sun shined brightly on little Charlie Chipmunk, he danced on his tree branch, waved his tiny upper paws, wiggled his nose and his joyous high pitched voice proclaimed, "This is a wonderful day!"

But right after he made his his proclamation, an adult chipmunk answered, "This is not such a wonderful day because they say it might rain later."

Just then another older chipmunk chimed in, "Yeah, and the air feels a bit cold and my arthritis might act up."

Then a third adult chipmunk in a serious tone of voice added, "I heard their could be an acorn shortage next year," as every chipmunk but Charlie sighed in grave concern.

Disheartened, Charlie left to look for his wise old grandfather. After finding his grandfather, Charlie told him what happened.

With a warm and compassionate smile, Charlie's grandfather put his paw around his little grandson and said, "Charlie, many chipmunks are frustrated by their fear, uncertainty and doubt and they live unhappy lives.

"They habitually assume the worst in every situation.

"You saw the start of a lovely, sunny day. They saw everything which could go wrong in that day even though it hadn't happened and might never happen.

"One chipmunk even thought of what might go wrong next year, something no-one can for-tell , yet in their negativity, the other chipmunks agreed with him.

"The thing is Charlie, you were right, and they were right."

"But how could that be grandpa," asked Charlie.

"It's very simple," his grandfather replied. "And it's a great life lesson. In large part, the world is as we choose to see it. If we look for the good, most of the time that is what we will see. And if we look for the bad, that is what we will see.

"If you want a happy and productive life Charlie, look for the good in everybody and in everything. That's not to say you won't endure some of the bad things but with a positive attitude you can deal effectively with the bad when it arises.

"But because you are looking for the good things, that is what you will often discover, just as you did the sunshine this morning. If you believe it will be there, it will be. But the naysayers are equally correct.

"They don't believe the good things are there and for them they too are right in a self -fulfilling thought process. They think negative and their lives are negative.

"Now Charlie, put a smile on your face and go find that sunshine again. And here is a nice fresh crunchy acorn to nibble on to get you started on your way."

"Thank you grandpa," Charlie replied, the happiness ringing in his voice as he frolicked off into the beautiful day.

Dick