The Power of Positive Thinking

**Box** · 07-28-2020, 15:03

Everyone likes to chitter-chatter about the power of positive thinking but what about the power of NEGATIVE thinking? Is it a thing?” Is it possible that our society has reached a point where negative thinking is our default setting?

It seems like “we the people” are increasingly ready to retaliate before we are even attacked. We seem to focus on people’s faults before we take the time to let them demonstrate whatever positive traits they may have. “We the people” have entered a time where everything is tit-for-tat; an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is the order of the day.

Coasting through life with a chip on our shoulder will never help us achieve our goals. We all have to work with a few unsavory characters if we ever want to reach our goals. Immediately going negative and living the life of an angry contrarian keeps us from succeeding. It reminds me of a young left-coast protester named Karen...

Karen needed some frozen water bottles to throw at the police during her peaceful protest. There was no room in her parents' freezer because she had stuffed it full of gluten-free-low-fat-vegan ice cream but she still desperately needed frozen water bottles… “I know – I’ll ask my neighbor Kyle if I can use HIS freezer to prepare for my peaceful protest. He should have room in his freezer for my water bottles.”

Karen began walking towards her neighbor’s house when she started to fret; “What if Kyle has stuff in his freezer – he may not have room for my water bottles.”

A few more minutes of alone time and Karen said to herself, "Kyle goes deer hunting every year, what if his freezer is full of meat? He’s not going to let his venison thaw just so I can freeze water bottles for a protest.”

With each house she passed, Karen’s demeanor grew darker and darker; “Kyle never was very helpful, with all his talk about hard work and self-reliance, I’ll bet he won’t let me use his freezer even if there is plenty of room for my water bottles!”

The closer she got to Kyle’s house, the more she convinced herself that Kyle was to blame for the unfrozen state of her water bottles. "Kyle always has been quite the Trump supporter. He probably hates me because I am a strong and independent woman that can take care of herself. Even if his freezer is empty, he is just going to suppress my 1st Amendment Rights by interfering with my peaceful protest. He’s probably sitting at his computer right now looking at white supremacy videos on the internet”

Several neighbors had noticed the odd scene and started to record her on their cell phones as Karen walked briskly down the street– she was clearly talking to herself in an angry tone and shaking her fist as though she was arguing with a manager. Even though she was on the verge of apoplexy and sweating profusely, Karen stormed across her neighbor’s lawn in a blind rage and began pounding wildly on Kyle’s front door…

"Good morning Karen, what can I do for you?" said Kyle with a friendly smile on his face.

Karen exploded – her eyes bulging, her face blood red with anger, and her unkempt purple hair flowing in the breeze - "You can take your stupid freezer and shove it straight up your meat eating misogynist cis-gendered racist ass you rotten fascist!"

Without warning, Karen pulled a small key-chain sized pepper spray canister from her purse and unloaded it directly into poor Kyle's face and then stormed away from his house crying about how terribly he had treated her…

…Kyle was fired from his job once the video of him infringing on Karen’s 1st Amendment rights to freedom of speech and peaceful assembly went viral