Who else wants to get on the positive train?

First, the ground rules: No becoming Pollyannas, burying our heads in the sand or telling anyone to smile or worse, to turn that frown upside down.

As someone who has always smiled a lot, and yet has also been told to smile, I have concluded if someone wants to smile, they will reach that conclusion themselves.

No, the positive I’m talking about is taking the high road. Then-First Lady Michelle Obama said at the Democratic National Convention in 2016, “When they go low, we go high.” The message applies beyond politics; it’s universal.

Don’t get in the mud with someone who’s trying to bring you down into it. Mud weighs you down and makes no one look better. Doing your part to keep the online, phone or in-person conversation respectful helps everyone in it or observing it.

Respect is catching. Unfortunately, so are disrespect and the brazen freedom some feel to use it. What do you do? Keep playing it your way, and either those who put people down will join you, or at least you’ll know you didn’t join them in their bullying or other disrespectful ways on social media or elsewhere.

The train of negativity and disrespect is full of people who stopped trying. Something or someone may have discouraged them in life. But it was their choice to get on and they can always change trains.

The positive train has seating for everyone.