Pessimism: Stranger fixes busted mailbox

Not quite sure if pessimism gets worse with age, but I’m pretty sure it does with a lot of people, me included. The bad outweighs the good, that sort of thing. The good die young, including some of our parents, siblings, while the crooks make it to 95 with all their teeth still pearly white, no less. Many even get elected to public office and have buildings named after them.

Pessimism describes a mental attitude characterized by expecting undesirable or negative outcomes from situations. At least this way, I’m never disappointed when things go south because I’m already expecting negative results.

I write this somewhat tongue in cheek, but it’s more true than not.

A pessimist tends to focus on the negative aspects of life in general. This is often contrasted with optimism, which is the tendency to expect positive outcomes.

Recently, however, I was reminded that decent people still exist. Of course, I know that to be true, but it’s nice to see it play out at least once in a blue moon.

For example, the driver who busted our mailbox. I went out one morning and saw that someone had driven into it.

Instead of driving off, though, without a "hi" or "bye," the driver left a note inside the box with his name and cell number, saying that he was sorry he hit the mailbox and was willing to fix it. He left a number.

So I called him, and he said his son would call me back to talk about fixing it.

Never heard from the son, but three days later, while I was out of town, he returned to the house and replaced the old mailbox with a new one, along with a new post holding it upright.

Bowl me over. An honest and decent guy. He should run for public office.

So, with this short opinion piece, I’m including a photo of the old mailbox, the new mailbox, and the guy’s handwritten note with his name and cell number blurred.

In today’s somewhat impolite society, where the takers seem to outnumber the givers, it’s nice to run into honest and decent people every so often.

Salud and thanks.