Believe in something

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Today’s lesson is about faith. Not faith in the sense of Jesus and stuff — I prefer to keep my personal relationship with him just that, personal. Believe it or not, he and I get along just fine. We disagree on the fact they could have gotten some better writers for the Old Testament, as I found it had a terrible cadence and even worse flow. Never mind. I’m talking about faith in general, an optimistic outlook, if you will, waking up thinking the glass is half full and anything good can happen.

SmalfutIt’s hard to keep an optimistic outlook on life when you’ve been on the road for 12 days in crappy weather. You wind up telling yourself filthy lies just to get out of the bunk and drag yourself into the truck stop for coffee. I often trick myself into believing I’m going to step out of the truck and see Sasquatch standing over by the garbage cans. More than once I’ve been disappointed by shirtless men with extremely hairy backs, unloading their truck garbage. You’re welcome for the nice visual. The point is, it gets me out of bed and functioning.

My very favorite t-shirt is titled, “I Want to Believe. Everything.” It has a picture of Sasquatch holding a baby alien and it’s the best t-shirt ever in the history of mankind. I think it portrays an extremely optimistic outlook when someone has the capacity to believe in intangibles. Some people call it crazy. Whatever the perception, it makes life a helluva a lot more interesting.

My brother was in my office last weekend. He wandered around and looked at all the Sasquatch memorabilia.

“Why does my whole family believe in Sasquatch?” He seemed genuinely distressed, so I didn’t really answer, I just kind of laughed. Like I do when I sense people are laughing at me, not with me. But I wanted to tell him we believe it because we can. We feel like it. We do what we want, and it makes us happy. And FYI, Mom doesn’t really believe in Sasquatch, she just knows how much Pop loves the thought, so she supports him. So there. Don’t be so upset, it doesn’t mean we’re nutso, it means we have a trust there’s still wonder in the world.

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Being optimistic requires the ability to believe. We told our kids a long time ago we wouldn’t dictate what they’d believe, but that they needed to believe in something. We’ll guide you and offer all the advice we have on the subject, but firm belief is a personal journey, and all we can do is give you the tools to take it, and suggest strongly that you do. Many is the time in my adult life I have survived emotionally because of my personal beliefs, and I’m very thankful my parents guided me toward them. We can only hope we’ve done the same service for our children.

We’re all trusting to a certain extent. I’d say a great majority of the population goes to bed pretty sure no one is going to put a pillow over their face while they sleep. Except for me and all the other people who watch waaaay too many crime shows on ID television. This actually contributes to my optimism when I wake up every morning not murdered in my sleep. I feel like I’ve totally scored already.

See? It’s the little things.