“How do you do it Irum?” asked her friend. Irum looked at her friend and asked, “Do what?”

“You know, always looking at the positive side, encouraging everybody not to give up.”

Irum smiled and shook her head, “It’s nothing really. Just some words of wisdom from a sweet old lady, my grandmother.”

Her friend grew excited, “Oh, a story! Do tell me.”

Irum then sat down beside her friend and started to tell her the story.

Her grandmother was a very wise woman. She had seen the world change and wanted to pass some pieces of advice to her grandchildren.

Irum was 10 years old when her grandmother asked her to sit down and then held out a glass of water to her and said, “Irum sweetheart, do you think the glass is half full or half empty?”

“Half-full,” Irum said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Her grandmother smiled and said, “Good, but do you know that not everybody thinks that.”

“What do you mean Nani?” Irum questioned her.

“I’ll show you. Just watch,” She said and then called to her son, Irum’s father, and asked the same question.

“Beta is this glass half-full or half-empty?”

Irum’s father looked up from his work and said, “Half-empty,” and then continued to what he was doing.

Irum was really surprised on hearing this. She looked at her and asked, “How?”

Her grandmother replied. “When people are younger, they see everything in a positive way but as they grow older and face difficulties in life, they start to think that everything is impossible.

“Just like the sun always appears after the rain, there will always be difficulties in your way darling, but you must never forget to look at the positive side of life. Be brave and don’t let failures bring you down.” her grandmother said hugging her.

“So, that’s it,” Irum said finishing her story.

“A wonderful story. Now there’s just one problem,” her friend said.

“What’s that?” Irum asked confused.

“Is the glass half-full or half-empty?” her friend smiled while holding a glass of water.

Irum started to laugh, “You should know my answer.

It’s always going to be half-full for me.”

Published in Dawn, Young World, May 18th, 2019