The Pessimist and the Optimist

There were two children.  One was a pessimist.  The other an optimist.  No matter what situation the children would be placed in, the pessimist would always find something to complain or gripe about.  On the other hand, the optimist was always happy and filled with joy.

A bunch of therapists decided to conduct an experiment.  The therapists believed it was the environment which controlled the behavior and feelings.  The experiment commenced.

The pessimist was placed in a room filled with toys.  More toys than you could even imagine.  Even more than you would find at Toys R Us.  They left the pessimist alone to play with the toys.

The optimist was placed in a room filled with horse manure.  Horse manure everywhere.  The therapists left the optimist alone to wallow in his plight.

When the therapists went back to check on the pessimist, they were aghast to find the child crying in the middle of the floor.  When they asked the child what was wrong, the child responded, "There are so many toys in here, there is no room for me to play."

Naturally, they expected the child in the room filled with manure to respond this way.  However, when they checked on the optimist, they could not understand why the child was so euphoric with joy.  When asked why the child was so happy, the child said with glee, "With all this horse manure, there has to a pony in here some place."

In the past, I have been much like the pessimist.  Today and from now on, I am going to try to be more like the optimist.  Which one are you more like?