“Love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic.” – Jack Layton

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“Love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic.” – Jack Layton 

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And let us not forget: "Make Love Not War!" which allowed many people to survive the Viet Nam era without dying then. However, that was before AIDS and all the STDs too. So, things have changed a lot now too.

When I met my present wife 30 years ago about now I was going through a really horrific Divorce on many different levels. I was starting to have health problems and I knew it was possible I wouldn't survive my 40s and it's true I almost died for about 9 months from fall of 1998 to May of 1999. I was 50 in 1998

However, my present wife is an optimist. I wouldn't define myself as an optimist but I am a compassionate pragmatist which basically means I have compassion for all life in the universe including myself while doing whatever it takes to survive in as compassionate way as possible.

However, the amazing optimism and outgoing nature of the extrovert my wife is and was was always very inspiring to me and how she lifted me out of things I wasn't sure I could survive.

Then unexpectedly her mother died a month before Doctors told me I was going to live in April of 1999 and Doctors told me I was going to live in May of 1999.

So, this incurable optimist then needed me to cope with the loss of her mother. I was the perfect person in this because I had lost my father in 1985 and knew how disastrous losing a larger than life person can be in your life. In fact, the major thing that contributed to my divorce was likely the death of my father even though I didn't get a divorce until earlier in 1994. Then I met my present wife in late 1994 and we were married in 1995 in Yosemite.

So, one of the main reasons I'm still alive today at age 76 is she cared for me when I needed her and I have cared for her when she needed me. So, in this sense we are war buddies who had each other's backs when it really counted in life.

So, I also believe: "Hope is better than Fear. Optimism is better than Despair. So, let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic."

This definitely has worked for me since 1994!

By God's Grace