You can complain because roses have thorns. Or you can rejoice that thorns have roses. – Ziggy
I’ve blogged about optimism and pessimism and I’ve blogged about keeping things in perspective. But nothing sums it up as well as the Ziggy quote 
above. When you look at a rose bush, are you seeing the beautiful flowers that it shares with us, or are you worried about the thorns? Yeah, the thorns are there, and it’s wise to treat them with a healthy respect and not reach out and grab the bush carelessly. That makes sense. But don’t let your fear of the thorns stop you from admiring the beauty of the blossoms.
Life is kind of like that, I think. You need to be aware and cautious of things around you or things that can go wrong, but you can’t let that stop you from living. I remember when my children were learning how to walk, they’d often take little tumbles as kids will do. Every time they did, I’d check them out quickly and make sure they were okay, and then I’d start applauding and cheering like there was no tomorrow. A friend saw me doing this, and thought I was insane. Why wasn’t I picking them up and cuddling them she wanted to know. To this day, my response made no sense to her. If I made a big deal over them falling, they would learn to be afraid. I chose to treat it like it was no big deal, dusted them off and put them back on their feet. They learned to be careful just because of cause and effect, but they didn’t learn to be afraid of taking a tumble. Maybe that made me a bad mother, but it made sense to me. And now, I have two kids who aren’t afraid to get out there and try things, and who look at life like an adventure. They know you don’t reach into a rose bush and grab a stem and hold tight, but their not afraid to lean in and enjoy the aroma of the rose or to be dazzled by the beauty of it’s bloom. Seems like a pretty good way to live your life to me.
