"Oh, yes, the game was to just find something about everything to be glad about -- not matter what twas," rejoined Pollyanna earnestly. "And we began right then -- on the crutches.""
The Grinch: "Those Whos are hard to frazzle, Max. But, we did our worst, and that's all that matters."
Hayley Mills as Pollyanna - the rainbows and sunshine little girl who rambled optimism, ad nauseum, to everyone until the glad game became a test with her crippling fall from a tree.
Jim Carrey breathed life into Dr. Seuss's animated Grinch; the bitter loner who looked down on the happiness of others with loathing. Within the beating confines of his small heart, he plotted enforcing his misery on others.
I am disabled with a neurological disorder. Maintaining a sunny attitude of hope and optimism brighten disability's gloom for me. I also have my occasional cloudy days, feeling alone, envious, and tears will fall. Pollyanna and the Grinch are personified emotions, conflicting attitudes in my mind.
I encounter flesh and blood Pollyannas and Grinches. Pollyannas in overdrive. Strewing imaginary rose petals in their wake, saccharin words drip with artificial cheer as they sanctimoniously play the 'glad game' with me from the clueless vantage of not living my disabled reality.
Oh the Grinches. I meet many in the disabled community. Bitterness shrinks their hearts so there is only room for misery. Spread their misery. Disable the happiness of others through blame, negativity, and self-pity.
Pollyanna's glad game, "And we began right then -- on the crutches." On the crutches, my Stiff Person Syndrome diagnosis. Glad isn't a game for me, but a daily attitude choice within the reality of my disability...see life's blessings and be happy.
I have my occasional Grinch moments, but like the Whos, I try to be "hard to frazzle." In spite of disability, I will not allow Grinch mindset steal my happiness in living. I do my best and that is all that matters.
Copyright © 2009
