Don’t let one cloud obliterate the whole sky. – Anais Nin

I think we all probably know that one person who, no matter what, only sees the negative.   You could hand them a pile of cash and they’d complain that they got a paper cut from the bills.  Life is full of good things and bad things, and often times, even when the good things are going on there are some bad things.  But what matters is what you focus on.  This past fall, at the school where I work, we hosted a haunted house/trick or treat event for the neighborhood kids.  Our goal was to provide a safe environment for the kids to go trick or treating.  My high school students bought into the idea in a HUGE way, and the kids and parents in the neighborhood were completely excited.  Some of the faculty (a lot of the faculty) wasn’t.  They didn’t want to come to an event at school on a Saturday, they didn’t think it was safe to have kids in school on a Saturday, and they didn’t want to donate candy to our cause or help out.  For a while, I was angry, even as I was watching all these little kids come walking though the school, going trick or treating at the different classrooms, even as I had parent after parent thank us so sincerely for doing this, I was furious.  All I could think about was the teachers who didn’t help.  It was ruining my day.  But then, this little girl tugged on my dress and said “Thank you Witch, for the candy.”  It was then, that the proverbial sun came out from behind my cloud.  I didn’t need to focus on that one negative thing – I needed to focus on the good, the great and the amazing things that were happening.  We had kids from various sports teams, music organizations, and clubs.  We had the “popular” kids and the fringe kids, honor society kids and struggling learners all working together for the good of their community.  It was amazing!  The thing was, it was always amazing, but I couldn’t see it because I was focusing on the negative.