When our son Jimmy went to Navy boot camp, we waited impatiently for word from him.
Finally we received a post card telling us he was doing well and we shouldn't worry. It went on to say that he was being kept busy acclimating to a military lifestyle and that he would send a detailed letter in a couple of weeks.
After reading his card a second time, however, we noticed that Jimmy had faintly underlined letters throughout the note.
When the letters were combined, his hidden message read, "Help me!"
A negative situation can always be given a positive spin if one uses different language to tell the same story. For example:
"The forest was shrinking, but the trees kept voting for the Axe, for the Axe was clever and convinced the Trees that because his handle was made of wood, he was one of them."
Our seven-year-old daughter was thrilled when we took her to Disney World for the first time, and she headed straight for Space Mountain. I worried that the roller coaster would be too scary for her, but she insisted.
"We have suffered bereavement after bereavement, but we are going to the land of the immortal where graves do not exist."