Yes or No.

Snow Drops and Snowdrops.

I was pleased to receive a message or two about yesterdays blog being a helpful one. This is often the case of a blog when it comes from the deeper thoughts of the mind. As one who has those dark moments of depression and a feeling that things are not going at all right I always find it helpful to look around a bit more to discover what is going right.

So very often the same situations can be seen in a different light when looked at with a little more care. So often from the darker corners, it is possible to emerge into the light again a far better person than when you were in there or before you even sank into the darker corners. I speak from experience.

Let me share a little historical reality that gives us food for thought, I apologise for the pun.

It is hard to believe now, but the potato was once a highly unpopular food. When first introduced into England by Sir Walter Raleigh, newspapers printed editorials against it, ministers preached sermons against it, and the general public wouldn't touch it. It was supposed to sterilize the soil in which it had been planted and cause all manner of strange illnesses, even death. This is a fact we are seldom told when he learn about Raleigh bringing the potato across the Atlantic.

There were, however, a few brave men who did not believe all the propaganda being shouted against it. It was seen as an answer to famine among the poorer classes and as a healthful and beneficial food. 

Still, these few noblemen in England could not persuade their tenants to cultivate the potato. It was years before all the adverse publicity was overcome and the potato became popular.

A Frenchman named Parmentier took a different tack. He had been a prisoner of war in England when he first heard of the new plant. His fellow prisoners protested the outrage of having to eat potatoes. Parmentier, instead, thoughtfully inquired about the methods of cultivating and cooking the new food. 

Upon his return to France, he procured an experimental farm from the Emperor, in which he planted potatoes. When it was time to dig them, at his own expense, he hired a few soldiers to patrol all sides of his famous potato patch during the daytime. Meanwhile, he conducted distinguished guests through the fields, digging a few tubers here and there, which they devoured with evident relish. 

At night, he began to withdraw the guards. A few days later one of the guards hastened to Parmentier with the sad news that peasants had broken into the potato patch at night, and dug up most of the crop.

Nobody would have believed his reaction to the news. 

Parmentier was overjoyed, much to the surprise of his informant, and exclaimed, "When the people will steal in order to procure potatoes, their popularity is assured." So it was.

Our initial reactions to situations are not always the correct ones. Much depends on how we see things positive or negative.

A man from the Highlands of Scotland found himself one day in a large city, for the first time standing outside a lift (elevator). 

He watched as an old, haggard woman hobbled on, and the doors closed. A few minutes later the doors opened and a young, attractive woman marched smartly off. The father yelled to his youngest son, "Billy, go get mother." 

Have a positive and good day.