John Thompson does not see potholes.

My dear friend and best friend's husband has the most pleasant attitude and outlook of anyone I know. Six of us were having a conversation that turned to the need to repair our roads' many potholes when John asked innocently, 'What potholes?  I don't see potholes.  I have no trouble driving anywhere I want to go.'

The key word in John's statement was 'see' - he literally does not see potholes - of any kind.

Maybe we should just appreciate our cheerful friend and not point out unseen negatives. There are not many of us who see only the good.

While that is probably best because we don't want potholes to go unchecked, it is refreshing to be in the company of someone who sees through innate rose-colored glasses.

Without going too far, perhaps it is time for all of us to see a little sunshine. It has been a long, cloudy year.

News reports cite improvement in the economic sector but many, maybe most, people are afraid to believe the worst is over. I wonder if that attitude slows down our recovery.

For years I believed that optimism about the future was behind our willingness to constantly improve our surroundings, spend money on vacations, entertain friends, and invest in our businesses, all of which spurred the economy forward.

Obviously, we should have stopped short of 'irrational exuberance' but there are very encouraging signs now that we can take a deep breath and let go of gloom and doom. Perhaps people like my friend saw better days ahead and behaved 'as if' - spurring on the recovery.

Without going too far,
perhaps it is time for all of us
to see a little sunshine. 
It has been a long, cloudy year.

Anytime we see the positive in people and situations, it helps bring it forward. I know how good I feel when people appear happy to see me and anticipate a happy outcome. John, for instance, has many friends who know that he is happy most all the time and he is, therefore, a welcome addition to any group. His own attitude of good cheer and expectation of happy outcomes helps cheer those around him and becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Those of us who do notice potholes can take a lesson from John Thompson.  Notice those potholes and fill them in or ignore them. Why spend time and energy worrying about anything we either can't or won't fix?

There's a lot to be said for rose-colored glasses. They could lead us to a state of Thanksgiving.

Jean Loxley-Barnard has been a writer all her life and studied both sociology and psychology at George Washington University where she earned a B.A. Her company, The Shopper, Inc., encompasses all the Loxley-Barnard family publications - The Shopper Magazines and Doctor to Doctor Magazine. She has been in the advertising, consulting and publishing business for 39 years.