The Good Side Of Everything

In the pursuit of happiness, again. I was told to be happy. Not because everything is good, but because we can see the good in everything.

Yeah, this morning, Manchester United were humbled by the football god, Messi of Barcelona FC. Man United, the team I have barracked for since I was a young boy scoring goals from kicking scrunched up paper balls through the front legs of two chairs that were sat side by side. The right chair, next to my dad’s shop counter was the opposing team’s goal posts. Man United had the advantage to ricochet the paper ball in, as I deftly crossed the ball in and the side of the counter would “head” the ball in between the legs of the chair. Man United had all the great players, I was George Best, the best, of course. Ok, be happy. See the good in everything. Man United lost today, but we got to witness the magic of Messi. His grace, poise, deft control of the ball, and the game in fact. The zeitgeist he summoned was awesome to feel and watch.

Yesterday, the grand old Notre Dame almost burned to the ground. Horrendous loss, how many priceless artefacts were destroyed? Ravaged by flames, the spire disappeared into the fire that engulfed it, the Gothic roof forever gone. Why weren’t sprinkler systems installed? A silly idea, a friend chastised me. A human chain works well to save the artefacts, they proved it yesterday! Water would have caused too much damage! Somehow, he thinks fire would be less severe on the priceless collections. Had the wreath of thorns turned to ash, he would surely have quietly wished it was water damaged instead. Ok, be happy. See the good in everything. Donations in the many hundreds of millions of euros have been promised to restore this world heritage cathedral. Are we happy?

The good side of everything is easy to see with hindsight. Happiness will have to come much later…….