Were you the salmon or the river?

The late Steve Allen (bespectled first host of the Tonight Show, the one before the one before the one before Jay Leno) wrote in one of his books about how atmospherics could create a mood over an entire city. He would call after his Sunday variety show over to the Ed Sullivan Show (which was on at the same time and performed across town from him) and he would ask how their audience was. Invariably, if he had a less than energetic audience, so did Sullivan.

I believe these atmospherics go beyond individual cities. In fact, judging by Giant Multinational Corporation, Inc., they blanket the entire USA. Conversations with my compatriots revealed bad days all over the country. In fact other parts of the globe as well.

But I have also seen at GMC, Inc. (not to be confused with General Motors Corp.) one person blithely skipping along down the hallway while the rest of us are grimacing and throwing things. [Special bonus points to me for using blithely twice in one week.] These people are the salmon in the river of life, blissfully swimming against the current. I wonder what is their secret. Are they wired backwards? Do they have a stronger faith in the positive outcome of life? Are they just really, really stupid?

So I ask you, were you a salmon this week or the river. As you can guess, I was just a drop in the mighty Mississip.