There is a story of identical twins. One was a
hope-filled optimist. "Everything is coming up roses!" The other was a said and
hopeless pessimist. He thought that Murphy, as in Murphy's Law, was an optimist. The
worried parents of the boys brought them to the local psychologist. He suggested to
the parents a plan to balance the twins' personalities. "On their next birthday, put
them in separate rooms to open their gifts. Give the pessimist the best toys you can
afford, and give the optimist a box of manure". The parents followed these
instructions and carefully observed the results. When they peeked in on the
pessimist, they heard him audibly complaining, "I don't like the color of this
computer...I'll bet this calculator will break...I don't like this game...I know someone
who's got a bigger toy car than this..." Tiptoeing across the corridor, the parents
peeked in and saw their little optimist gleefully throwing the manure up in the air. He
was giggling. "You can't fool me! Where there's this much manure, there's gotta be a
pony!"
- Author Unknown
