Good News! Something to celebrate

In case you haven't noticed, we have been having a bit of what the English call "a bad run" lately. The daily news has been downright depressing. So, when you get a chance to celebrate, you have to jump at it.

My sister-in-law bought a house the other day. At age 41, it's the first house she has ever owned. It's a major accomplishment for her. She has worked very hard to be successful in her career. She has battled hard to overcome what most of us run into at one time or another - obstacles in her personal life. Through it all, though, she has kept up the one constant I have always seen in her - a big heart. You want to see people like that get rewarded.

A friend of mine found out the other day she is getting named to her college's athletic Hall of Fame. She was a terrific tennis player for them a decade or so ago. She stayed in athletics after graduation, eventually going back to a college job - one that she has become very good at. Like my sister-in-law, she has had her share of personal and professional heartaches but has remained stalwart and steady.

I mention the above because we just don't celebrate good tidings as much as we should. When good things happen to good people, we need to forget about our sagging 401Ks for a minute and simply go have a good time.

Instead, we seemed to have become a country where success is envied instead of being appreciated. Instead of applauding someone's achievement, we mutter to ourselves about bad luck. I don't know exactly when this started or whose fault that is. But I swear it is true.

A former employer of mine once told me he thought I was a "glass half-empty" sort of guy. I think he was actually talking about himself and his bosses. But, unless I have totally misread and misheard much of what is being said and printed these days, he is describing the mood of much of the country these days.

There may be good reasons for such pessimism. But that seems to me all the more reason why, when something good happens to somebody you really like, you need to schedule a celebration as soon as possible.

Gotta go now. I don't want some naysayer complaining this column is too long.