Is Your Glass Half-Full or Half-Empty?

Surely, you’ve heard this expression.  Maybe you’ve used it to describe someone you know.

“She’s a glass-half-empty person.”  Or, “Well, if that isn’t a glass half-full outlook!”

There are at least 2 ways to describe a clear drinking glass of water that is filled to the mid-point.  Is it half-empty?  Or half-full?
 
The descriptor “glass half-empty” is deemed pessimistic.  Rather than focusing on what is in the glass, the viewpoint is about what isn’t in the glass.  The view is about what is missing, and there is an accompanying tinge of complaint.  Like, “Well, why didn’t the waiter fill it up all the way!” Rather than being thankful, the observer is grumbling about what is not there.

Conversely, should someone say, “Oh look!  That glass is half-full,” the tone is brighter.  The person chooses the positive label “full” instead of empty.  One senses a hopefulness, even a gratitude.  She sees the silver lining around the dark cloud, presence rather than absence, provision rather than lack.

I have a delightful book in my library that was published in one volume but in two ways.  Turn the book one way, and the front cover is black, with the gray words on the front, “The Pessimist’s Handbook.”  Flip the book over and the cover becomes white, “The Optimist’s Handbook.”  Depending on your bent, you can read it either way.

Oscar Wilde remarked that “a pessimist is somebody who complains about the noise when opportunity knocks.” ☹  Emily Strawn (age 5) counters with “An optimist is someone who expects all the rayons to be in the box.” 5020202020Recent