I heard this today on a show featuring political views on the presidential election. It was said this way “optimistic pessimism or pessimistic optimism.”

This can be read as: you are optimistic about pessimism and or, you are pessimistic about optimism.

I think you can be optimistic about lots of things in your life. You can be hopeful of events that will happen to you, rather than be pessimistic. You can be wary about other things that you are scared about or fear.

When you fear something, many times it turns out to be far less fearful, than you ever thought it would be. Sometimes you are very optimistic about something happening and then it turns out different and you are disappointed.

We have to be careful when we think about things optimistically or when we think about it pessimistically. Some people have the personality to always be pessimistic; while others are always happy and optimistic in everything they do.

I know of someone who is a very smiling person and always is sweet and kind. Anything you ask her is okay and she will answer you with great knowledge and courtesy. She always tells me that I am sweet and I am, because I always ask her about her little son, her parents who I do not know and her. She is easy to be nice to and her sweetness and pleasant personality lights up her pretty face. She is my ophthalmologist and she exudes kindness. Her name is Lee Alison Snyder and she is the kind of person who you would want to be your lifelong friend. If she and I were not patient and doctor; she would be my lifelong friend, even though she is young enough to be a child of mine.

Sometimes you meet especially dear people and whether they touch your life in a business way, a medical way or a friendship way; they do touch you. This type of mental touching is something that is great for our emotional well-being and when it comes from a medical person or a friend or a family member; it is especially sweet.

It is nice to have a medical person who you are not afraid of to ask a question and you do not have to worry if they think it a silly question. You the patient may have fears and if you are able to ask this of the professional person; it can allay your apprehension or foreboding and the answer makes your life easier and you can relax about this fear. It can work the other way too when you state something to the professional and he or she can give you their view on it.

My physician assistant who is my main medical person is the same way as Lee is. However, he is not sweet, he is just plain nice, kind and very knowledgeable about anything I ask. His name is Dennis H. Myers and I feel privileged to know people like Dennis and Lee, especially at this senior age, I am starring in. Dennis is very patient and never rushes you.

When I was a little girl, doctors made house calls. My pediatrician’s name was Dr. Harry Goldberg. He used to come to the house when you were sick. I would kid him that he had a terrible handwriting as most doctors still do. I told him that I could write clearer than him and I was about eight. He took his pen and wrote my name on my inside hand and he showed me how neat he could write when he was not in a hurry. He knew how to kid around with a little ‘kid.’ This made a youngster not to be afraid when she saw him. He loved the kids and the kids loved him.

I had another doctor who claimed to be a geriatric doctor and he wrote this in an ad in a local magazine. Once, I had to go to him and he was very brief, quick and when I asked him the same thing twice as us older people do when we are not clear on what they state, he said “I am not answering that again, I already answered it before.” I said “your ad said you were a geriatric doctor and that means you specialize in old people and therefore you should have a bit of patience for the patient.” He smiled as he said it “do not believe everything you read in a magazine.”

 He thought his reply was cute; I never went back to his office.

So it is good to be optimistic rather than pessimistic in everything we do and if we are able to have a personality to be like that, it is to our advantage. If we have the opposite manner, we can try to change it some.

To sum this up, let us try and me too, to be optimistically optimistic. Mental touching (I made this line up) is a delightful way to know someone. It helps us to be more optimistic.