Cheerful versus Grouches
by Pat Magut
Are grouches more fruitful than cheerful people? I think they must be because the grouches so outnumber the cheerful people in our population.
Who are the grouches? They come in all colors, sizes, ages, both sexes and they speak many different languages. Cheerful folks do too, but they look at the world in a different way.
Unfortunately, grouches don’t hibernate. They move freely among us at work, school, social and sporting events, senior centers and sadly, even in our own homes.
Grouches take pleasure in minor mishaps, which they turn into major tragedies. Something as inconsequential as a summer shower, forcing a family picnic to be moved indoors, gives a grouch reason to grouse for weeks.
There never was a grouch in my family. We had joke writers, song and dance men and stand-up comedians, so it was a great disappointment when I married and found my mother-in-law was a card carrying grouch. She was my husband’s step- mother, so I didn’t have to worry about the children inheriting her genes.
In her life nothing was ever right. If it was sunny, it was too hot and drying up the plants. If it rained, she complained about mud being tracked into her house and having to scrub the floor.
When she came to dinner, if I set out a splendid feast, she complained that I was spending too much of my husband’s money and that the rich foods would shorten the lives of everyone.
If I tried serving healthy foods, I was accused of not caring enough to cook special dishes.
So you see, you cannot please a grouch. Take it from one who knows and who did manage to work out strategies to parry any grouch downers.
Use laughter! Laugh at yourself. Laugh at the grouches and their way of thinking. This you may have to do at a later time, but do it, you’ll feel better.
Laugh with your family, laugh with your friends. Laugh with children, they love it.
Find someone to laugh with. Laughter multiplied is always better.
Doctors say laughter promotes good health and lowers blood pressure. While lawyers know it lowers the divorce rate.
Smile- grouches hate smiles. They try to wipe them off your face, but keep smiling. It’s good for your facial muscles.
Keep smiling! Laugh a lot! The scoreboard will read: Cheerful Person, 1, Grouch 0.
Pat Magut has been a Milford Senior Center Member since 2,005. Wherever you hear laughter in the building, you will find Pat. She celebrated her 12th birthday as a freshman in high school and her 16th birthday, a freshman in college, majoring of course, in English. Pat is a gifted writer and we at the Center are so happy she shares this talent with us.
