“What is wrong about being positive?”, a colleague asked the other day. “Today everybody is gloomy and it seems like the whole joie de vivre has disappeared.”

How can you be positive when you are overwhelmed with negative news as soon as you turn on the TV or listen to the radio? “Despite all these negative events, there are still some positive things happening out there. Why is it that nobody talks about it? One can only wonder”, he continued.

“A crisis is not such a bad thing”, a famous Swiss social scientist said some time ago. “It makes people think and come up with new ideas.”

“Yes we can!” was the slogan used in the Obama election campaign and it did send out a positive message that everything is possible when the will is strong. A strong political will has been identified as the missing ingredient in overcoming many of the world’s ills: illiteracy, poverty, hunger, corruption. The list could easily go on: achieving universal primary education, climate change, human rights abuses, insecurity. In a word: integrity.

John Quincy Adams put it this way: “Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air.” Or perhaps should we listen to Patricia Neal who alleged that “a strong positive mental attitude will create more miracles than any wonder drug.”

The British philosopher Bertrand Russell once proclaimed: “If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have paradise in a few years.”

On a lighter tone, Herm Albright said: “A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort”.

So now we know what to do … Just roll up our sleeves, be positive and start thinking about how we can contribute by doing our best to create a better world…

On these notes, I wish you all a wonderful day! And do not forget the wisdom of Albert Schweitzer: “Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory!”

Marit