Some Good News?

Sometimes I fall into the trap of reading the bad news out there...not the hard news or the tragic, but the bad news where people just spew hate and vitriol for no good reason and pen a column that has no real point but to incite more hate and anger. Sometimes I will read fairly positive columns, but then am sucked into the comments where the readers...a term I use lightly at times because of the comments made...twist the message of the author into the strangest things.

I understand that one cannot only focus on "sunshine news" that ignores reality, but it can get tiring if reality starts to pull one under into a chasm of negativity.

So, to combat the negativity I've been seeing and feeling all around lately, I'm going to post the Optimist's Creed and the opening chapter of the Quran. They both shine a light for me when the darkness of things around seem overwhelming.

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To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet.
To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.
To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
To think only of the best, and expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.
To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others. To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

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Praise be to God, the Sustainer of the worlds!
The compassionate, the merciful!
Master on the day of reckoning!
You only do we worship, and to You do we cry for help.
Guide us on the straight path,
The path of those to whom You have been gracious; with whom you are not angry, and who go not astray.

The Opening - Quran 1:1-7

~~~~~

Kelly
American Islamic Fellowship
blog@americanislamicfellowship.com