The Glad Game

Ecclesiastes 9:11 Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)

11 I also saw other things in this life that were not fair. The fastest runner does not always win the race; the strongest soldier does not always win the battle; wise people don’t always get the food; smart people don’t always get the wealth; educated people don’t always get the praise they deserve. When the time comes, bad things can happen to anyone!

I never heard about an Easy-to-Read version of the Bible till pretty recently, but I’m glad I stumbled on it when I did. There’s something refreshingly different about the perspective it gives, especially with verses like the one above. But more about that later.

Alongside being the quintessential precocious child who perpetually looked forward to the Mondays that signified the start of the new school week (unlike the majority of my peers who dreaded Monday like it was doomsday) one thing my innocent young self thoroughly relished was movie time with my parents – my dad especially. Looking back now, I realise how much of a pain in the neck I must have been at the time, what with the numerous questions I would persistently ask as each movie progressed. I wasn’t very different from a canon fully loaded with inexhaustible enquiries. Dad never got tired of humouring me though. For every question, he would ensure I got a satisfactory answer at best, except, of course, the answer to my question would eventually reveal itself as the movie progressed. “You’ll soon find out,” he would coolly say with that unmistakable knowing smile. Good times, I tell you!

Maybe it’s just me, but do you ever randomly remember a movie you saw in your early childhood and feel this overwhelming need to see it once more? Probably because you simply can’t seem to remember some parts of the plot and how the events played out, or the names of the characters, or maybe even the title itself? Because I get that more often than not, and the accompanying nostalgia gives me such a satisfying rush. Titanic. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Sarafina. Forever (this one’s Nigerian, and I couldn’t remember the title for the life of me. I had been looking for it for ages till - by some stroke of luck - one of my Google searches with a few cast names I could recall yielded the results I sought). These are some of the ones I’ve had the pleasure of seeing again recently, and it always fascinates me how one scene’s exactly as I remember it, whereas I barely have the faintest recollection of the very subsequent one. I’ve still got a few others on my bucket list though.

It was right in the middle of my Tuesday morning shower, as I got ready to head into school, that I remembered one of such movies. I had seen it with Dad at least a couple of times on the Hallmark Channel. I doubt I was a day over 6 at the time, and although, sadly, I still don’t recall the title of the movie or any member of the cast, I haven’t given up on searching for it. Maybe some part of my vague memory of the plot might be of assistance. Someone just might have seen and be able to identify it from the little I remember. Who knows?

So the movie was set in some suburban town somewhere in the US where a great many people had had really depressing experiences. I don’t recall exactly, but I believe - among other people who had experienced losses of some kind - there was an elderly woman (or was it a man?) who was seemingly permanently bedridden. These people were so consumed in their grief that had all but given up on life, till a certain young girl, whose name I can’t recall either, came to town to visit a relative of hers. To cut this long story short, this girl, with her optimistic charm and cheer, brought so much gladness with her to this town, and introduced its careworn people to this game she learned from her father. It was about finding something to be glad about in every circumstance, regardless of how gloomy things seemed. She called it “The Glad Game.”

Now I really don’t know how I was able to remember the name of the game at this point, but thankfully, I did, and it meant that - apart from finding the perfect title for this post - my search for the title of this movie was over. Google just provided me the answers I needed once more.

The little girl’s name was Pollyanna, and that was the title of the movie as well. I’ve just read the plot of the novel from which the book was adapted, so I guess I’ll tell the story accurately henceforth.

Pollyanna taught the distraught people of Beldingsville to play this game of hers, and, as a result, they all felt better with time. Sadly however, some time after, Pollyanna was hit by an automobile and lost the use of her legs. Consequently, she was bedridden. Her optimism dwindled, her spirits fell and – as one might guess - she couldn’t find anything to be glad about in her condition. It took the visitations of the numerous townspeople whose lives had improved as a result of Pollyanna’s heartening to cheer her up.

Pollyanna once more found reasons to be glad despite the odds and ultimately regained her ability to walk. Thus, the movie came to a characteristic joyful end.

Now even though Pollyanna's story had a typically happy ending, it’s evident that, from time to time, we need passages like the one at the beginning of this post to remind us when we forget that life is far from perfect, or even fair. Ecclesiastes 9:11 makes that crystal clear. Bad things happen to “good” people sometimes, and while it’s not entirely out of place to want to spend one’s entire existence striving to arrive at religious and/or moral justifications for such sad occurrences, I find it easier and much more reasonable to consciously accept the fact that it’s indeed possible - in this imperfect world in which we find ourselves - not to get the good we feel we deserve every time. We all lose our loved ones at some point. Innocent people occasionally get convicted and have to serve unjust sentences. Hardworking and brilliant students still have resits at times. Heck! Even babies are born with heartbreaking deformities now and then! The list is endless, but that doesn’t mean that we get to give up on happiness, because we don’t.

Even though we ought to take responsibility for our own errors (no matter how insignificant we believe they are or how deep in denial we might be) for us to learn and grow to be better people, there are circumstances that - to a very great extent - might be out of our control. It’s however entirely up to us to see the silver linings that exist among the dark clouds of our despair. There’s always that ray of sunshine to be grateful for and be glad about. We need only to make the little effort required to lift our heads so we can see the light.

I bet you can think of just one thing you’re grateful for about apart from being alive, and being able to recognise your mistakes and subsequently correct and learn from them, and owning a mobile device that’s internet-enabled with an active data subscription, and being able to read this piece, and... Well I’m sure you get the idea.

Be glad, my friend. Be glad.

P.S.: Pollyanna is now a generally recognised English noun for a person who is persistently cheerful and optimistic, even when there's no cause to be. Feel free to consult your dictionary.

And the movie adaptation of the novel originally written by Eleanor H. Porter was released in 1960. What!?