Samuel Johnson, that great man of letters and heavyweight of good sense in eighteenth century England, commonly said the people whom we should most beware in the world are those who constantly insist on finding fault, those whose clouds are never lit by silver linings, those who everlastingly “refuse to be pleased.”
I am often reminded of Sam Johnson’s suspicion of such people and their moanings and gnashing of teeth when I read the newspapers or look at the news and commentaries and interviews and panel discussions on our TV channels. And I fear it is all much the same in other countries around the world. Blight and despondency stretch as far as the eye can see. The litanies of misery and human perfidy, on this side and that, are completely unrelieved by even the faintest evidence of life being nudged in the right direction. Intentions are always bad, efforts always flawed or corrupt, the half-filled glass is always draining towards the sourest dregs.
