It’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything from XKCD here, that amazing geeky web-comic that I love so much.  This strip talks about the power of positive thinking and how some people take it to an extreme.  I am all for positive thinking, and for taking responsibility for our choices, attitudes, and feelings, but some people take it to such an extreme that they use it as a club to beat others over the head with.  To me, that kind of defeats the point of “positive thinking.”  I like to believe that I, like the stick figure in the comic, also suck at being pessimistic.  There is all kinds of good in life.  I like to look for the positive, sure.

But I can’t pretend that life is happy 100% of the time, and I have an emotional need to acknowledge the things that make life bitter-sweet, rather than constantly framing them in positive-spun euphemisms.  As “The Princess Bride” so eloquently put it – “Life IS pain, highness.  Anyone who says otherwise is selling something.”

I also like to think that I’m getting better at not beating people over the head with idealogical clubs.  But I’ll leave that up to you to judge.

How true that is!