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I try to pay attention to what comes towards me. Twice in the past few days I've passed schools which had a board facing the road for all to see. The message it carried was: January character attribute: Optimism.

Being in the dark days of winter this sounded good, although, like positivity, I think there can be something false about it if it's merely glib and not thought through. However, there's surely a good, helpful energy around optimism and it's certainly better than its opposite. It's easy to get sucked into pessimism and despair when I think about the threat to our planet that comes from pollution, not to mention how much the life-giving quality of our food is already compromised through all the '-tions' -- radiation, genetic manipulation, pasteurization, homogenization and so on. But then I can be grateful that I have access to farmers who don't do any of this. Gratitude is surely another force that can bring light into darkness.

Anyhow, I'm putting effort into using the car as little as possible. I took the bus and subway downtown. I'm turning off every light and appliance that doesn't need to be on (for example, that little light that signals the dishwasher's job is done). I feel better, more optimistic, if I do something, no matter how small.