Passage by Deborah Diesen

“Hey Mr. Fish,

You kaleidoscope of mope,

How about a smile?

A little joy? A little hope?”

After reading The Pout Pout Fish to my grandson, Kane, for what seemed like the 1,000th time, it hit me hard. This book, this particular passage, is how I want to live out the remainder of my life.

I haven’t always pushed positive energy into the world. Because I don’t consider ignorance bliss, and because I do consider myself at least somewhat educated, I figured I was more cynical than most.

I’m not. I’m about as cynical as everyone else who has learned that so many people, for so many reasons, suck.

So I shouldn’t wear cynicism as a badge of honor, as something I’ve earned because I’ve learned. I don’t want to be the “pout-pout fish with the pout-pout face, spreading the dreary-wearies all over the place.”

I want to be the “kiss-kiss fish with the kiss-kiss face, spreading the cheery-cheeries all over the place.”

But it’s so hard!

When the last thing you feel like is being cheery, how do you not be a kaleidoscope of mope? When people disappoint you (and it’s always people, right?) how do you smile? How do emit joy? How do you infuse hope?”

Act.

That’s my only answer. Act.

I found this out on my very first day in a classroom with 30 hopeful eight and nine-year-olds, I had to act. No matter how nervous or stressed I felt, the classroom is no place for the dreary-wearies.

Acting worked. Research shows that when we act a certain way, even when we don't feel that way, we start to feel that way. But only when we go for it. Fully commit to it. Throw ourselves into it. We can’t half-ass it.

So, I’m going fight being a kaleidoscope of mope. We have far too much of that already.