Pollyanna was no Pollyanna

“Don’t be a Pollyanna!”  “She’s such a Pollyanna!”  Ever heard these exclamations before?  Usually they refer to someone who is way too 1)obnoxiously cheerful, 2)excessively optimistic, 3)forever positive, 3)stupidly idealistic, 5) did I say obnoxiously cheerful?  Or all of the aforementioned. But who is/was Pollyanna?  Besides the heroine of the 1913 novel of the same name written by Eleanor H. Porter, she also became my heroine the first time I saw Hayley Mills play her in the 1960 Disney film adaptation.  I was 12 years old and sensing the shadow of my teen years fast approaching, soon to destroy my innocence.  No wonder I was ripe for being inspired by a young female character whose sole purpose was to lift the spirits of all the hard-hearted, shut-down, damaged adults around her.  And how did she do this?  By playing “the glad game,” that is, by finding something in every situation, no matter how dire, to be glad about. Recently I had a minor revelation about Pollyanna’s cheerfulness and of the unwarranted criticism of it by the cynics of the world. Pollyanna suffered!   She did not come by her optimism without suffering!  First of all, her parents died and she was orphaned.  Then she went to live with a mean old Aunt who treated her like a dog.  Then she fell from a tree and became paralyzed.  Let’s face it.  Pollyanna recognized that the human condition is full of suffering and sadness, but realized that she had a choice.  She could either look for the good or find the bad which is always there.  She took full responsibility for her attitude towards life, an attitude which extended way beyond her own personal happiness and touched and transformed the lives of others.  Did I say obnoxiously cheerful? Let me rephrase that.  Let’s hear it for choosing-despite-all-evidence-to-the-contrary cheerful!