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Attitude: Positivity and Its Effect on Yourself and Others...a la Shmoop.

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Welcome to Gloom County. [Overview of Gloom County]

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Where the skies are cloudy all day, and uh…you probably shouldn’t drink the water.

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It’s no wonder everyone in town is bummed. [Woman walking to car under cloudy grey skies]

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Life is hard. There are jobs to go to, bills to pay, illnesses, injuries and deaths to

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grapple with…[Child stood next to Death]

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Why should anyone be positive, really? And so life went on for the residents of Gloom

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County, with no one ever daring to look on the bright side of things…until one day…

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Little Daisy Druthers…

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…this whisper of a girl right here… [Daisy Druthers stood outside by her window]

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… had a wild and crazy idea.

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What if, rather than focusing on the bad and ugly stuff…she actually made an effort to

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see the good things?

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Like…what would happen if she were in a good mood all the time? [Daisy thinking about being in a good mood]

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Would life be more…bearable? So…she decided to give it a shot.

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That morning, as crabby Mr. Finkelstein passed by her house and grumbled out his typical [Mr Finkelstein walking past Daisy's house]

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“Bad morning,”…

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…Daisy responded with a “Good morning!” and then turned the corners of her mouth upward

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rather than downward, just to, you know…see what happened. [Daisy smiling at Mr Finkelstein]

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Mr. Finkelstein was caught off guard. “What’s so good about it?” he asked.

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“Well,” said Daisy, “We’re alive aren’t we? And we get to walk through this big, beautiful

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world every day, learning about the universe, asking the big questions and striving to become

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better people with more fulfilling lives…I think that’s pretty nifty, don’t you?” [Daisy talking to Mr Finkelstein about life]

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And Mr. Finkelstein…smiled.

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He wasn’t sure if it was because of what Daisy said, or because her own smile was so

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infectious… but he did indeed did smile.

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And immediately he began to second-guess his own negative nature…

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…and wonder if this little girl might have it right after all. [Mr Finkelstein walking down the road thinking about Daisy's positivity]

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Daisy’s next encounter was with Grumpy Gus Gufferson, her next door neighbor who was

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stuck in a job he didn’t like where he didn’t make much money. [Gus serving a customer at a fast food drive-thru]

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She tried the same trick on him.

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“What’s so good about it?” said Gus. “I can’t stand my job, and I barely make

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enough to put food on the table for my family.

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Why don’t you take your “good morning” and sh-…” [Gus angry at Daisy saying good morning]

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“WHOA,” said Daisy. “Watch where you’re going with that. My ears are virginal.”

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Daisy then went on to explain that, while Gus may not love his job…at least he had

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a job. That was more than some people could say. [People holding signs outside Gus's fast food restaurant asking for jobs]

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And times might be tough…

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…but at least Gus had a family. And they were all in good health, minus the grumbly [Gus at dinner with his family]

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bellies. And they loved one another…and wasn’t that all that really mattered?

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Well, Gus thought that was…a bit cheesy. But sweet. And well, totally true.

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After all…it struck him…it’s all relative. [Gus crying]

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Some down-on-his-luck fella might look at someone better off and bemoan his financial misfortune…

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…while that better off fella might look at a really wealthy person and think he’s got it bad…

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…while that wealthy woman might look at the poor guy and think, “he doesn’t have

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my money, but what I wouldn’t give to have a loving spouse and darling children like he’s got.” [Wealthy woman moaning about not having a loving spouse and children]

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Gus realized that nobody’s life is perfect, and we’re always going to look at somebody

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else’s grass as being greener than our own.

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The trick, he decided, was learning to find the silver lining in one’s own grass. [Gus pointing to his grass]

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And he was right. Even if he was, um…mixing metaphors a bit.

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Gus smiled back at Daisy, tipped his hat, and went back inside his house to remind his [Gus tips his hat and smiles at Daisy]

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family how much he loves them.

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And Daisy ventured out of the house…unaccompanied by an adult, which we can’t condone… [Daisy walking out of her house alone]

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and went in search of other people with days she could brighten.

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Good luck, Daisy. But seriously…look both ways before crossing the street… [Daisy crossing the street and man in a car drives towards her]

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