It's been a hard few weeks for both of us for various reasons. We needed to spend time together, in a neutral place over some good food and wine, something we used to do regularly, our Saturday date just the two of us. Walk into town, have lunch, share a bottle of wine, talk over our week. We have let this slip, life takes over sometimes.
As the food is savoured and the wine supped we feel ourselves relaxing, talk of work, family and home. Then he said something to me that stopped me in my tracks, shocked and angered me, does he know me at all? "You're a glass half empty type of person" Wait....what? Me? No no no. You have me all wrong. Why do you think that? It niggled me for the rest of the day. I kept bringing it up again and again. "You just are" he said. No further explanation.
I have always thought of myself as a half glass full type of person. Why would he get that impression? I mulled it over, thought it through. Could it be because I think the world is going to hell in a handcart? We are destroying the planet and intent on killing every living thing on it, especially each other. That people are full of hate and intolerance. Maybe that does make me sound a bit negative, but it's all true as far as I'm concerned. All you have to do is listen to the news to confirm my thoughts. I don't try to bury my head in the sand, I'm no Pollyanna.
However........ I'm not one to sit back and except it. I do my bit and know that there are many people out there who like me are not willing to let it happen without a fight. We fight for equality in our own ways, sign petitions write letters. Challenge intolerance and hate. Try to protect our environment. Yes hearing of the terrible things that are going on in the worlds knocks me off my feet sometimes. It takes a while to dust myself off and come back fighting, but I do.
The news is full of the terrible events of the 7th of July 2005, when people full of hate set out to kill as many as they could. It would be easy to give in to the feelings of despair for this world and its people, but then you hear from the survivors who have taken this terrible experience and turned it around. Fought hard to make something positive come from it.
On a local level a young man with learning difficulties on the way to the shop to buy sweets was attacked by a group of other young people, humiliated and pushed to the ground. Now he is too scared to go out on his own. My heart breaks once again. The following weeks are filled with news of people donating money for a holiday for him and his family, presents, a ride on a motorbike with a local motorcycle club. It restores my faith in my fellow beings on this planet.
The photos are from a new cafe we came across in Truro yesterday. The owner spent 10 months refurbishing the place, turning it from a betting shop into a positive nurturing space. It has been created from reclaimed, recycled, foraged pieces by him and an amazing carpenter. Lovingly put together to create something beautiful in this fucked up world. Here's their story Inner Tide I hope it succeeds and doesn't go the way of many other businesses in the City competing against the multi-nationals.
So am I a 'half empty' type of person or a 'half full' type of person because I continue to get back up and fight for what I believe in? What type of person are you?
Chickpea xx
I'm a person who believes that whether the glass is half full or half empty, it can always be refilled.
ReplyDeleteGood point :)
DeleteHalf empty/full, does it matter, you look around, note what is happening, change what you can, find rewards in the results of awful things people do and how the lovely people far outnumber the cruel ones. We can't change the world over night, but bit by bit, as an individual or a group things can change. There are enough nice people in this world, but nice does not make headlines in our instant world. I think you are a positive person, like most of us. So please don't change yourself, as for the world, do it day by day.
ReplyDeleteThank you Marlene :)
DeleteYou just have to remember that men are a different species, have a brain to mouth ratio that is inverted and will never understand how women think. The very fact that we multi task confounds them, The fact that we can cook a meal, watch the kids, keep an eye on the pets, have 2 conversations, listen to the radio and still hear them swearing at the telly leaves them flabbergasted. On a sensible note most of us vacillate between full and empty at times, we all have bad hair days but as long as we do what we can to make our world a little better the glass will remain more full than empty.
ReplyDeleteHaha true!
ReplyDeleteS'funny - I was thinking exactly the same thing earlier today. RMan asked me what the time was and I said, "It's just before quarter to 12". Then I wondered why I didn't say, "It's just after 20 to 12..."? Is there rally a difference?
ReplyDeleteDon't worry about being a glass half empty, or full, type of person. Personally, I'd be happy to be called either knowing that I am doing what I can to make others aware of injustice / environmental issues / personal contributions they can make to rectify the damage we are doing to this planet... :) If there are, collectively, enough of us, we CAN make a difference - and that's all that matters, isn't it? :D
I hope so Dani, but time is running out......crikey perhaps he was right, that's pretty negative!
DeleteMaybe you're just a realist x
ReplyDeleteYes, I probably am hazzy :)
DeleteI think we often change from half full/empty but as long as we do our best and fulfil our hopes and dreams, making a better place to live in does it matter...
ReplyDeleteYou are right, doesn't really matter as long as we do something.
DeleteI think the glass half empty/full analogy doesn't apply to everything under one big banner. I think one would have to be demented to not feel a degree of pessimism about the state of the world around us. In fact, a couple weeks ago I took a week off reading news headlines. I just couldn't take it any more. But being a realist about the state of the world doesn't mean one is necessarily that way about life in our homes, or with our families, or in our circle of friends.
ReplyDeleteI also have to take time away from the news sometimes, it all gets too much.
Deletei like to think of myself as an optimistic cynic. :) the world is in the toilet, you'd have to have your head jammed securely up your own arse not to see that -- the Rainbow Unicorn Contingent would have us wishful-think everything into happiness again -- but the fact remains, the human race is doing some serious damage to this planet and to one another. BUT -- there's also a great deal of goodness about....and a never-ending supply of beauty. all we can do is the right thing for this moment....and then the next and the next.
ReplyDeletethat's a lovely looking cafe....and what a grand thing to have been made from recycled/repurposed materials.
xoxo
Optimistic cynic, I like that :)
DeleteFunny that, I think of myself a glass half full kind of person but I know my husband thinks I am more of a glass half empty person... I call him a hopeless optimist, which he denies..... Words. At the end of the day, we both do our best to make the world a better place, little by little, even if it is only on a very small scale. You do the same, I know you do from visiting here. It is good to care.
ReplyDeleteI think I'll visit the cafe in Truro, we'll be not far later this month (we are going to Portscatho). It looks inviting and friendly.
Yes funny how we see ourselves and how others see us can be totally different.
DeleteLook at the floor if you go, there are slices of tree embedded in the concrete floor!
You sound a pretty positive sort of person to me, Chickpea. It's not negative to be realistic and acknowledge the problems in the world. It's only negative to dwell on them and to see the worst in every situation. Men are definitely a different kind of creature!
ReplyDeleteBTW the café looks very inviting :)
I asked my girlfriends and they say I'm a glass half full sort of person as well :)
ReplyDeleteI would say you are a half full as well, but you are a realist, and lets be honest, the world seems to have 'gone to hell in a handcart',
ReplyDeleteI think I am both, really, though my husband says I am a very positive person. I am on the outside, but that is because I choose to take a positive stand. Inside I often feel hopeless and less than half-empty. I have often noticed that my positive attitude annoyes people. "Why is she smiling?! She should take things far more sereously!" Inside I feel far more uncertain, but it helps me to look for anything positive. Pam
ReplyDeleteA very clever young lady of just 10 years old once told me there is no such thing as a glass half full or a glass half empty because the other half will always will be full with air.... she was a very brave young lady who was battling cancer at the time and is sadly no longer with us but that sentiment of hers always stays with me.... she was wise beyond her years.
ReplyDeleteOne of my clearest memories from being young, is a school test I sat when I was approx. 9 years old, with a picture of a bottle half full/empty and you had to to say which it was. I got into a real tizz about it, because it was both! I remember putting my hand up to the teacher and she said I was right, but which did I feel it was, and for the life of me I cant remember which I said... Unfortunately I probably said half empty. I think I am a hopeful realist - like you.
ReplyDeleteInteresting question ... I think you can be an optimist and greet the day with a smile while still being pessimistic about what lies ahead for the world ... maybe that makes me a fence sitter ;o)
ReplyDelete