Reasons to Be Cheerful

Even on the Morning after the Election

I know my own faults, and one of them is that I am superstitious, especially when a situation is out of my control. Take the election. Please. I wrote this post back in October as a hedge, figuring that if my candidate lost, it would help my mood to remind myself that there is still love and beauty in the world. Today millions of Americans are heartbroken, angry, and frightened. Me too. We are grieving over and worried about our country. But we also need reasons for hope. Hence this post. If you are devastated by the election too, you may prefer not to read this post right now. That’s fine. But when you feel ready, I hope that the following links, stories, and songs (plus a recipe) will lift your spirits.

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“Reasons to Be Cheerful, Part 3,” was recorded in 1979 by Ian Dury and the Blockheads. Dury’s life is itself a reason to be cheerful: He contracted polio as a child and was permanently disabled but, undaunted, went on to a brilliant career as a musician, actor, artist, and health ambassador for UNICEF. The video below, from 2020, showcases Dury’s artwork. (And if you didn’t catch all the lyrics, you can find Dury’s full list of reasons to be cheerful here. Yellow socks! Shostakovich! A cure for smallpox!)

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So let’s start with the most heartwarming scenes of love and joy imaginable: Dogs reuniting with their humans who have returned from deployment.

Dogs make everything better, don’t they? If you have a dog (or a cat), why not give him or her a hug and a little treat right now?

Lynn endorses this plan.

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The internet doesn’t have to be a source of contention and hatred. Sometimes when I’m feeling low, I google “Show me something uplifting” and am always gratified and gladdened. Happy posts are out there! For example this Reddit thread, on the question “What is the most wholesome thing you have seen?” In case you don’t want to click through to a(nother) link, here are two of my favorites:

Or how about this video? A woman is about to undergo chemo, and so her son shaves her head for her—and (not to sound like clickbait) you won’t believe what happens next.

One day, while aimlessly scrolling, I was delighted to discover Gurdeep Pandher, a Sikh man who lives in the Yukon. To beat the cold and foster joy, Pandher dances outside in the snow and shares his videos with the world. As he says,

While joy may require more effort to find and maintain compared to sadness, the rewards of this pursuit are immeasurable. By actively seeking out joy, we equip ourselves with the resilience and positivity necessary to navigate life’s inevitable hardships with greater ease and grace.

In the video below, he teaches some basic Bhangra steps. Let’s dance along, and who knows? We might feel a bit better.

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It may not seem like it right now, but what truly matters is not arguments on the internet, not outrage, not even politics. To paraphrase Tolstoy, the most important thing is to do good for the person who is with us, right now. Think of the ordinary kindnesses we show each other all the time, in our families, communities, and just among strangers out on the street. For example, I loved this entry from the New York Times’s Metropolitan Diary:

I was sitting in a crowded subway car one morning when an older woman got on holding a large bunch of roses.

She gestured to people on the train to see if they would buy one of the flowers. After being rejected by everyone, she stood wondering what to do.

A young man approached her. He was dressed well, as if on his way to work. He asked how much for the whole bunch.

Fifty dollars, the woman said.

He gave her $50 and proceeded to hand out roses to all the women on the car.

— Mary Herr

When I was in my forties, I ran three half-marathons to raise money for CureCMD, an organization that funds research into congenital muscular dystrophy, our daughter’s condition. For my first race, I pinned a picture of our daughter, captioned “Running for Casey,” onto the back of my team jersey. As I ran, a man passed me and called back, “Casey is proud of you!” I still think of that moment when I need to give myself a lift.

Here’s another story: Last summer, I hiked to the summit of Eggishorn (2871m). Most people take the cable car to the summit and hike down, so as I scrambled up the steep slope, I met several people coming the other way.

See? I wasn’t joking when I said the slope was steep!

One man looked at me for a moment, while I was pulling myself up over a particularly rough patch, and said simply, “Respekt!” When I got to the top, a fit young Brit, who had passed me on the way,¹ said, “You made it!” and applauded me. Ignore the cynics, grumps, misanthropes, and naysayers. We human beings are pretty terrific, actually, and so long as we continue to treat one another with basic decency, I truly believe that we will be ok.

Readers, what is kind thing you have done for someone, or someone has done for you recently?

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Then there’s this video, of a little Japanese girl learning English. I promise that it will be the most adorable thing you will ever see. Giggles and dimples! No matter how you are feeling right now, this video will put a huge smile on your face.

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And when all else fails, it helps me to listen to the gospel hymn “God Put a Rainbow in the Sky,” performed below by the great Mahalia Jackson.

Remember: “It looked like the sun wasn’t gonna shine no more, / children! God, He put a rainbow in the sky!”

The view out my window a few weeks ago.

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How about you, readers? What are your reasons to be cheerful, today or in general? Please share your thoughts in the comments!

The Tidbit

The little girl learning English asks, “Do you like cake?” Why yes! My friend Ha is an excellent cook, and a couple of weeks ago she brought us some pumpkin spice cake she had made. It was delicious! Which is no surprise: Even people who are embarrassed to admit it secretly like pumpkin spice.

Pumpkin Spice Snack Cake

I have adapted and rewritten the recipe Ha used. You can find the original recipe here. Ha’s tip: Be generous with the spices! This cake is perfect for when you’re having friends over for coffee, and it also makes a great snack on a hike.

Ingredients

2-1/4c flour

1/4c cornstarch

2tsp baking powder

1/2tsp each baking soda and salt

1T ground cinnamon

1-1/2tsp powdered ginger

1/2tsp each nutmeg, allspice, and cloves

1c sugar

3 large eggs at room temperature

1c (250ml) vegetable oil

1-1/4c (300g) pumpkin purée (this is about 3/4 of a can of Libby’s 100% pure canned pumpkin;² be sure to buy the purée and not the pie filling)

1/4c (50ml) whole milk at room temperature

2tsp vanilla

1tsp white vinegar or lemon juice

Method

1. Heat the oven to 325F/160C. Butter and flour a 9x13 lasagna pan.

2. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves.

3. In a large bowl, combine the sugar, eggs, vegetable oil, pumpkin puree, milk, vanilla, and vinegar. Mix until it is smooth and all the oil is blended in.

4. Carefully fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until just blended. Note: The batter will be quite liquid.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake 30–40 minutes (depending on how hot your oven runs), until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

6. Cool in the pan for at least 15 minutes before cutting. Serve the cake with a dollop of whipped cream on the side, a dusting of powdered sugar on top, or just as it is.

Serving suggestion.

1. You may be sensing a theme here. I am slow, so people often pass me. Never mind. I’ll get there eventually, and the restaurant at the end of the hike is not going to run out of beer.

2. Don’t throw out the remaining pumpkin! You can stir it into soup to add flavor and vitamin A.