Bright Side to a Dark Cloud

In today's society, it is not a question if negativity is going to come your way but when will it come.  We have all, more than likely, experienced an event that was difficult, untimely and unpleasant to deal with.  For the most part, we have little control over what happens however we do have some control over how it affects us.  It is all about your perception, is the glass half empty or is it half full?   Same glass or situation but different views. 

In St. Charles County, Missouri, a woman named Becky Schoenig had a brand new 2015 Ford Fusion stolen out of her driveway on Monday.  The vehicle was later recovered on Tuesday because someone report a strange car in their area.  She finally saw the car on Wednesday and it was not the same for vehicle she got about 8 weeks ago.  The vehicle had some damage that needed to be repaired but there were also some "improvements" to the car.  The thieves presumably intended to customized the vehicle's rims and add details to the body.  Her response to the event was simply jovial, she said thanks to "the car thieves for pimping out my vehicle.."  And here lays the lesson, "It was good people that found my car.   It was good people that surrounded me and encouraged me to think positive thoughts.  That was the hardest part because I was upset with people, humanity," Schoenig said.  "The truth is that there's still more good people out there than bad. Regardless of how a situation looks, we can still kind of have fun with it."  I could not have said it any better.

This incident and her reaction to it can be an example of how we all can deal with adversity.  A story of how one woman turned adversity into laughter and unity.  We have probably heard them in different ways growing up, "the sticks and stones rhymes" and the good old fashion, I am rubber your glue what you say to me bounces off me and sticks to you."  Her initial reaction, being upset, could have festered into depression, angry or number of other things but it was changed to laughter, funny phrases and unity of loved ones. 

Shapiro, E. (n.d.). Missouri Woman Thanks Thieves for 'Pimping Out My Vehicle' Retrieved April 2, 2015, from http://abcnews.go.com/US/missouri-woman-thieves-pimping-vehicle/story?id=30089963

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-32046188

In this news video from BBC News the President of Myanmar, Thein Sein, was not too concern about the actions of the police when dealing with the boisterous crowd of protesting students.  The student along with some activist were protesting a new education bill.  This protest was not all peaceful at some point and the police reacted with force.  There were several pictures and videos clips of surrendering or nonviolent protesters being repeatedly beaten by the police.  The president noted that he thinks that the police handled it better than what has been seen in the western countries.  Does the ethics of their president show that is acceptable in his culture that the authorities can use force even on surrendering or nonviolent protesters?  It does seem to be a little callous to students and activist.  Morally, watching another human being beating while submissive would be troubling for some to watch.  Even though, their actions may not have been the best, the police seems to be have their way with the crowd regardless.  No one was killed or received any life threatening injuries some may count that as a positive thing.