The Optimist

There was once two children: one born to wealth, one born to poverty. The wealthy child had all of his needs met, and had all of the toys and entertainment money could provide. The poor child worked every day at hard labor from dawn to dusk from the time he could walk, and rarely had more than food, water, and clothing, if even that. But the poor boy always had lots of love and support from his parents and family. One Christmas morning, the wealthy child awoke to a huge Christmas tree with neatly wrapped presents stacked wall to wall, floor to ceiling. In the center of the floor was a large box which said, "Open me first!" The boy rushed over and ripped open the box to find the cutest puppy in the world. The boy was thrilled and grabbed up the puppy with both hands. In response, the puppy urinated all over him. The boy threw down the puppy, exclaiming, "Yuck! I hate it! Take it away; take them all away!" And then he stomped out of the room. The same morning, the poor boy awoke to his little drab room. His father was standing over him, and said, "Get up and follow me." The boy got up, got dressed, and followed his father who led him to the barn. In the barn stood a pile of manure stacked wall to wall, floor to ceiling. The boy's face lit up, and he immediately grabbed a pitch fork and eagerly started digging. His father inquired, "What are you doing?" The boy answered, "With this much manure, there must be a pony in here somewhere!"