Pamela Poole's Blog - Posts Tagged "pollyanna"
Pollyanna's Gift
I watch the old movie "Pollyanna" annually to keep my perspective, and "The Glad Game" is often mentioned in my house. In one scene from the movie, the coffin maker snidely insults Pollyanna by saying that she's been running all over town pestering people with sunshine and happiness, and it was enough to make them sick. Never mind that is was lack of ability to find sunshine and happiness that created a sickness in town.
Pollyanna's wholesome attitude isn't due to privilege, but to her missionary father's life lesson. It was his greatest gift to her before he died, leaving her an orphan. He had little else, since they lived on what came out of the missionary barrels sent to them. She learned some things the hard way like other children do--then turned the consequences of her mishap, deception, and mischief into a greater good by seeing value and opportunity in them.
The first time I saw the movie, I was dismayed that she disobeyed and decieved her aunt Polly, and as a tree-climbing tomboy myself, I would never have dared that tree outside her window. She is not the perfect little princess sitting around in lace and doing needlework. But her ability to spring back, move forward, and find meaning in everyday life is an inspiration we could all do well to model.
In my novel Painter Place, an unscrupulous British photographer applies the Pollyanna label to American artist Caroline Painter, who is visiting his country. It will be up to the reader to decide if it was a rightly-placed description. Fortunately, others in Caroline's sphere of influence appreciate a wholesome, positive outlook when challenges come.
Some people have a different way of playing Pollyanna's "Glad Game." They call it making lemonade when life gives you lemons. Either way, the world needs more people who choose to live life making a difference for others rather than creating a bondage of self-imposed victimization.
After all, as Pollyanna's dad believed, God wouldn't have mentioned being glad and joyful so often in the Bible if He didn't think it was important!
Pollyanna's wholesome attitude isn't due to privilege, but to her missionary father's life lesson. It was his greatest gift to her before he died, leaving her an orphan. He had little else, since they lived on what came out of the missionary barrels sent to them. She learned some things the hard way like other children do--then turned the consequences of her mishap, deception, and mischief into a greater good by seeing value and opportunity in them.
The first time I saw the movie, I was dismayed that she disobeyed and decieved her aunt Polly, and as a tree-climbing tomboy myself, I would never have dared that tree outside her window. She is not the perfect little princess sitting around in lace and doing needlework. But her ability to spring back, move forward, and find meaning in everyday life is an inspiration we could all do well to model.
In my novel Painter Place, an unscrupulous British photographer applies the Pollyanna label to American artist Caroline Painter, who is visiting his country. It will be up to the reader to decide if it was a rightly-placed description. Fortunately, others in Caroline's sphere of influence appreciate a wholesome, positive outlook when challenges come.
Some people have a different way of playing Pollyanna's "Glad Game." They call it making lemonade when life gives you lemons. Either way, the world needs more people who choose to live life making a difference for others rather than creating a bondage of self-imposed victimization.
After all, as Pollyanna's dad believed, God wouldn't have mentioned being glad and joyful so often in the Bible if He didn't think it was important!
