So far, so good....

Well, you managed to wake up this morning. No matter what else may be happening in your life, that’s definitely a plus.

You plod to the bathroom and flip the light switch. Two more good things: you’re able to walk, your cognitive abilities are intact (you know what a light switch is) and it’s further proof that you are, in fact, still alive and kickin’.

Look in the mirror. Granted, many of us won’t be particularly happy with what we see, whether it’s Jim Carrey hair or crow’s feet, but you’ve leaped yet another hurdle: you can see. Up to you to decide how to work on what’s looking back at you.

Comb that hair down (and be glad you’ve still got it), brush those teeth (them, too), gargle, spit. Consciousness is slowly gaining ground, right? Not a bad start, all things considered.

So far, so good.

You’re not freezing to death or burning up, so the AC’s still on. Electricity flows, as was proven by the aforementioned light switch, and water’s still coming out of the faucet.

Your arms worked well enough to comb and brush, so nothing robbed you of your coordination during the night.

Here you are, only a few minutes into another day, and life’s odds are pretty much in your favor, aren’t they?

There’s still plenty of time to find things to be mad or disappointed about, of course.

All you have to do, in most cases, is boot up the ol’ computer (thankful for that bonus, which fewer people have than you might think) or turn on the television, knowing in advance you’ll be assaulted by all the crime, politics and global detritus you can handle.

But let’s get that coffee going first, shall we?

Bottom line: if you look at the progression of time from the first minute of each day you wake up, things are generally more in your favor than against you, aren’t they?

A dear old friend, Doug Mayes, used to tell me every time I saw him that, when you asked him how he was doing, he’d simply say “I’m above the ground, and that’s a good start.”

Doug’s not with us anymore, but, oh, he made the most of life in his more than 90 years on the planet.

And the older I get, the more I understand where he was coming from each time he greeted me with that admonition.

Your world’s only as bad as you let it become.

Even if we can’t solve everybody’s problems, there are those among us who will try. Look at all the charitable organizations that strive, on a daily basis, to help the less fortunate among us.

God bless ‘em.

Hundreds of them are scrambling southward right now to help those tornado victims, for example.

We are and will always be eternally thankful for people like them.

So far, so good, indeed.