I just read an article about Gabby Douglas. For anyone who is unaware of who this is, she is a 16 year old who has just changed Olympic history by her amazing talent! She executed nearly flawless performances in every gymnastic area, allowing her to win multiple gold medals. She has a beautiful smile, and loves to show it to all. She is confident and amazing!
The news reports that after winning gold, what was everyone tweeting about? Her hair. Apparently her hair is not up to Olympic standards? Her response was perfect!
"I don't know where this is coming from. What's wrong with my hair?" said Douglas, the first U.S. gymnast to win gold in team and all-around competition. "I'm like, `I just made history and people are focused on my hair?' It can be bald or short, it doesn't matter about (my) hair... Nothing is going to change, I'm going to wear my hair like this during beam and bar finals. You might as well just stop talking about it."
I am thrilled that she has enough self esteem and good sense to realize her hair is not the problem. (In fact, I thought her messy "let's get this hair out of my face so I can get to work" look was very cute!)
I am thrilled that she took this in stride and realized that her hair should be worn however she wants it! But I am somewhat confused on when society decided the "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all" rule doesn't apply.
I am not advocating going and burying your head in the sand, and pretending nothing bad exists. That serves no purpose. At that point there is nothing to optimistically look forward to, nothing you can do to improve this world. But, what would happen if we all took a bit more time to look for the good in the world?
I heard of a singer, Hilary Weeks, who heard that we all think 300 negative thoughts a day. 300!!! So, she decided to see if that was the case. She purchased a simple clicker to click every time she thought a negative thought. What did she discover? She discovered that when she was clicking every time a negative thought came into her mind, she focused on them, and became more negative overall. Solution: She turned her clicker into a "positive thought clicker" and clicked every time she thought a positive thought! Then she asked the world to join her.
What if instead of any tweets saying "#GabbysHair, they read #GabbysGoldMedal, or even #VictoriasSilverMedal (Victoria Komova is the silver medal winner, who feels she failed utterly, by doing gymnastic stunts that only one other person on the face of the planet can do!) What if instead of telling our children their faults, we focused more on their accomplishments, or just being there listening? What if instead of looking at the dirt, or unfinished jobs around the house, we saw an open DVD case and thought "I am so glad I took time to have my daughter snuggle up to me, and we could watch that together?" What if the world decided to start "clicking" their positive ideas, and told their negative thoughts to be gone?
Even in heated areas where mudslinging seems to be the main communication, such as politics, what if we took a step back, and looked for the good in each candidate, and then made an informed decision? I haven't known a single president to blow up the entire continent, or sell it off to gypsies, so yes, even those that I disagree with still have some saving charms that I can look at, praise, and learn from. And even though some may argue, none of them TRIES to ruin or hurt our country. How would it be if a political candidate felt friendship and love from his competition and the public as a whole? How much harder would he try to work for us and find the correct solutions?
I look at my daughter, and her best friend, who is my niece. They amaze me! They are polar opposites on almost everything! My daughter is the straight as straight can be dark haired, olive skinned, dark eyed beauty. She is very quiet, peaceful, and can be downright shy. She likes her room completely clean (well, usually). She can be 2 feet from you for an hour, and because of her quiet ways, you may never know. My niece has naturally curly blond blond hair, she is as fair skinned as can be. She is loud, attention seeking, wants to create a scene and make everyone laugh! Her only vice seems to be that she will never (and I mean NEVER NEVER EVER) keep her room clean. Her bubbly personality seems to explode all over her room. If she is in the house, you will definitely know it!
The two of them, if following society rules for looking for the bad, should never be friends. They should not spend hours together every day. Bekah should tell Kimberly of the dangers of skin cancer (even though she looks tan in places the sun has never seen!) and call her a wallflower, Kimberly should tell Bekah that she is too loud, and should learn to act like a lady. And they can both find differences, and therefor something to mock and complain about, all day. Instead, the best way to offend either of them would likely be to insult the other, their best friend. Instead they compliment each other. They both add so much to the world, and bring beauty in their own way. They both teach me lessons in life, and how to be a better person myself. They show a mutual respect for each other, and more importantly love to each other.
We should all look for the positive in each other, and celebrate it! We should notice the problems that we may face, but then decide if it is a true problem that we need to fix, or if it is fluff to complain about. If it is a real problem, work positively towards a solution. And if it is just fluff, then remind ourselves to find the positive, to improve our attitudes, and smile. The world can be a better place if we can just see everyone in it a little better.
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