AS YOU SEE IT, SO IS IT

A Chinese story tells of a widowed mother who received support from her two sons. One son sold fans; the other son sold umbrellas. Every morn-ing, when she awoke, she would look outside of her window at the day; if it was a cloudy, rainy day, she would wring her hands and moan, "Oh, my son will sell no fans today." If on the other hand, it was a bright, sunny day, the mother would wring her hands and moan, "Oh, my son will sell no umbrellas today." This woman felt that either way, sun or rain, she would lose, until someone pointed out, either way, sun or rain, you win. An optimist once fell out of a sixth-story window— as he was passing the third floor window, someone yelled out at him, "How's it going?" The man yelled back, "So far, so good."