THOUGHT: Positive

“Philosophy can no more show a man what he should attach importance to than geometry can show a man where he should stand.” —Peter Winch, 1968

I'm pretty sure it's important to stay positive, but Peter is right, philosophy can't decide that for me. But I've decided it's right. So let's be positive. Let's look for the good.

I'm going to try it this week at work. While Charissa and I were walking around Seoul after saying goodbye to our friends Angela, August and Karen this afternoon, we talked about staying positive. When people have negative conversations with me, I'm going to try to find good things to say. When people make crazy decisions (and crazy decisions are definitely made weekly 'round these parts), then I'll try to point out the positive when others ridicule. When people complain about their jobs, I'll try to find the good in their jobs, or their rightness in their assessment of their jobs and how they can find new ones, or something upbeat like that.

Peter Winch, philosophy can't even tell me if your statement is important. But I think it is. I wonder if you were very positive even though you were against positivism. Did you ever go surfing? Because surfers know where to stand on their boards, and from what I can tell, they're pretty good at packing light.