As early as elementary school, children are taught the concept of negative numbers. They learn that adding two negative numbers makes an even bigger negative number and that adding a positive number to a negative number makes the number shoot up to the positive end of the scale of numbers. Or at least closer to it.
I think the same rule applies to life. Right now, there's a lot of negativity and fear in the world. The upcoming elections are looming ahead, terrorist attacks are becoming more and more prominent on the news, and every time we turn on the TV, the world appears to be a crazy, negative, mess. It's not just in the large political realm of things that we encounter negativity and fear. Perhaps your co-worker always says disparaging things about your sense of fashion, everyone in the comment section on YouTube seems to hate your favorite artist, or a family member yelled at you for seemingly no reason. In moments like these, and in a world such as ours, it feels natural to respond in the same way with anger or disgust. We feel strong when we fight back, because it seems like we are defending ourselves. But then, if you look at the basic math lesson we just covered, does it make sense to defeat negativity with more negativity? When you add a negative number to another negative number, you just get an even greater negative number, and lashing out against something or someone only adds to the negativity. When you add something negative to a situation, whether it be your words or actions, you are only making the negativity more powerful.
So how can we effectively fight a force as strong as negativity? There are two obvious and rather indistinct solutions.
1. We can stop adding to the negative.
2. We can try to cancel out the pre-existing negativity with positivity.
However, this doesn't help us much. It only leads to more questions such as "What about defending yourself and your rights?" or "How are you supposed to defeat negativity without fighting?" My answers are these.
Being positive doesn't mean you have to be weak. By all means, stand up for yourself and others when your rights have been trespassed or disrespected, but ask yourself these questions. How will I affect this situation?, Is what I am about to do or say going to help this situation?, Is it unkind or hurtful?, and How can I make it otherwise? In answer to question two, repeat the questions above and add the following: What can I do or say to make this situation more positive? So the next time someone says something snide about you, laugh it off. Nothing annoys a negative person more than someone turning their negativity into positivity. And if it's a situation that's hurtful, make sure that your defense is constructive and positive.
I don't think that being positive will change the world overnight, but at the very least, it will make your own life, as well as the lives of those closest to you, much happier. At the very best, you will inspire others to be positive too, and together, we will diminish negativity. So for goodness sake, please don't go and argue with your cousin about Hillary or Donald on Facebook.
