The Glad Game

I was introduced to Pollyanna, played by Hayley Mills, and the Glad Game when mom took us to a nearby drive-in to watch the Disney movie. Later I read the book by Eleanor H. Porter. Too bad I didn't see the analogy of this glad game to thanksgiving at the time.

Pollyanna was the child of missionaries and when her parents died, she was sent to live with her namesake, Aunt Polly, a cold, proper woman who lived by the rule -- children should be seen, not heard. When I first saw the movie, I thought the cheerless bedroom way up in the attic that her Aunt prepared for her was a touch romantic, almost like her own private treehouse and at one point, Pollyanna did crawl out of her window and shimmy down a tree to go to the village fair her Aunt forbid her from attending.

Pollyanna made friends wherever she went, both children and adults alike, and touched their hearts through playing what she called the Glad Game, a game her father taught her. Like any girl-child, she craved the companionship of a playmate, but not having that, she would settle for a doll. Her parents were so poor they couldn't afford to give her one, so her kind father wrote to the missionary board and asked them to send a second-hand doll in the next barrel. Well, instead of a doll, the barrel contained crutches. She was very disappointed, but her father said, "Don't let's be gloomy, let's try and find something to be glad about instead." So, her father invented the Glad Game.

I've have collected some quotes from the movie that I really enjoy about the Glad Game, a version of an attitude of gratitude -- you play too!

POLLYANNA = "Just a game I play. A game my father taught me. Helps sometimes when things aren't going so well. That's when you can play the glad game. If you knew how to play the glad game, then you could find something to be glad about too."

POLLYANNA = "My father used to say that a person should think about living, not dying all the time. It just reminded me of my father and the doll. You see, I always wanted a doll, but we never had enough money for things like that; my father was a minister. He couldn't (afford it) and we had to have the money for food. So, anyway, my father wrote to the missionary people and asked them to please send a little secondhand doll. But there was a funny mistake when the missionary barrels came, instead of a doll, they sent a pair of crutches. Well, I was rather disappointed, so my father made up the glad game. About the crutches, my father said, "Don't let's be gloomy, let's try and find something to be glad about instead." So we made the glad game. Well, we played the game and after awhile I forgot about the doll and being gloomy and you know what, I found a reason to being glad. We were glad we didn't have to use them (the crutches). You ought to forget about dying and be glad you are living!"

POLLYANNA = "Do you like being a minister? Oh, the way you looked just then reminded me of my father. He sometimes looked sad like that and so one day I asked him. He said he was glad he was (a minister), but it made him sad sometimes when he just couldn't seem to get through to his congregation. Well, he read something one day that he said helped him. 'When you look for the bad in mankind expecting you'll find it, you surely will. (Abraham Lincoln).

Anyway, he said it started him thinking and from then on he was going to look for the good in people. That's when he started searching the Bible for the texts. You know, my father called them the glad passages. You know, the happy ones, like 'Shout for joy,' or 'Be glad in the Lord,' you know, like that. There are 800 happy texts, did you know that? My father said if God took the trouble to tell us 800 times to be happy and rejoice, then he must have wanted us to do it."

My Happy Thanks! =

1. I told a girlfriend last Wednesday that I didn't think I could thank God for the two mud-dauber stings I received on my right index finger knuckle. I'm allergic to bee stings and swell up most dreadfully and itchy-red and I have a common cross-reaction with most other stinging insects as well. She said I can thank God not for the unpleasant circumstance, but that I knew first aid for stings. I applied a paste of baking soda and water to soothe the area, inserted my finger between a folded over cold gel bag to help with the immediate swelling and pain, swallowed an antihistimine tablet to help with the allergy symptoms, and called someone to check on me later. Next morning, there was little swelling and I could stiffly bend my finger with only slight discomfort. That's an important finger, you know, when you are right-handed! *smile*

2. I am so grateful for air-conditioning! My bod does not handle heat and humidity well. And I welcome cooler weather!

3. I had a great time at Kathy's shoebox party! Thanks for the invitation, gal!