Finding the sunny side
I’m sometimes called a Pollyanna because I’m incurably upbeat and believe that if I am true to myself and do what I think is right the future will take care of itself.
Curious, I found Pollyanna, written by Eleanor H. Potter over a century ago, in our local library. Pollyanna was an eleven-year-old living in an orphanage after the death of her father, a minister. Her mother had died several years earlier.
Someone discovered she had an Aunt Polly living in the village of Beldingsville, Vermont. Contacted via the church, Polly reluctantly agreed to have the child she didn’t even know come to live with her.
Beldingsville was a small town, probably pretty much like today. There was poverty, isolation, crabby people who were despondent, squabbles amongst townsfolk and troubled families.
The problem in Pollyanna’s family began when Polly’s 20 year-old sister, destined to become Pollyanna’s mother, chose to marry an idealistic minister instead of the wealthy man the clan preferred. Besides that, Aunt Polly was stranded on the rocks of a love-affair’s spindling miscommunication.
Also in Beldingsville, disabled Ms. Snow stayed in bed all day, every day, with the shades drawn. Her caretaker, whose family depended on the meager earnings, had the impossible task of finding something acceptable to the old woman. John Templeton, who rarely came to town, was a snarky miser living in a mansion on the hill. Dr. Chilton’s life appeared to be contained within the two rooms he rented: an office and adjacent sleeping room. And Pastor Warren’s parish was wracked with petty controversies that were wearing him down and tearing the congregation apart.
People were cautiously civil to one another, but there was precious little “joie de vevre” in Beldingsville. Then along came Pollyanna, named for her aunts, Polly and Anna. With a forlorn sense of duty, Aunt Polly prepared a tiny, sparsely furnished attic bedroom. To keep flies out, the window had to be kept closed.
Polly assumed her duty included teaching Pollyanna the basic skills a future woman would need, like sewing and cooking. But Pollyanna much preferred doing what she called living, exploring and meeting people.
Before long she’d introduced herself to everyone she’d met. She was excited to teach them the “just be glad game” her father taught her. The object was finding something positive in every situation and everyone.
She’d tell people, for instance, that when the Ladies Aid sent packages to the orphanage, she’d once asked for a doll. But the package contained children’s crutches. She decided to be glad she could walk and run just fine and didn’t need crutches. The “glad game” takes lots of practice, she advised. But if you looked long and hard enough, you would find it.
She found that Mr. Pendleton was only crabby on the outside. He was warm and friendly inside. And the reason the town’s seductively dressed, over-cosmetized woman was always fighting with her husband was that they’d not found each other’s good sides. They are always there, she said. You find what you’re looking for.
Before long, everyone she’d met liked Pollyanna. Then one day her youthful enthusiasm got the better of her; she ran in front of a car, was hit, and knocked unconscious. When she awakened, her legs were paralyzed. She spent weeks in bed, wasn’t allowed visitors, and became discouraged.
Her friends came to leave small gifts and messages of how their lives had been changed by the glad game. They wanted her to know they were pulling for her to find something from her accident to feel glad about.
Months later she was glad to find that she’d learned to use her hands to knit and make things for others. A year later she was glad to discover that she could take a few steps. She could hardly wait to see how much further she could walk over time.
Written when my mother was a child, Pollyanna quickly became a children’s classic. I bet she read it. Growing up in poverty, with an absent father, she was nevertheless unabashedly positive.
I don’t remember any specific words, but I became a proud Pollyanna at her knee. I learned to keep my chin up, mind open, find everyone’s good side and search for new opportunities in adverse events.
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