It was a dark, wet November morning. It seemed like it would take a million years to get to summer again. I thought bears have got it right---- what a perfect idea to sleep through the worst part of the year and wake up when spring comes! "Want some words of affirmation ?" a coworker, seeing my mood, kindly suggested. "You don't think they would cheer you up?" "Today? No." I shook my head. "I used to think so too," he said, "until I realized the effect my words had on a certain person. Well, it was someone I knew pretty well. I have to say I treated him rather badly." "You? But you are always so positive! How did you treat him badly?" "I told him I did not like anything about him, really. I told him I did not even like his name. In fact, it wasn't only what I said. I also did pretty bad things to him. When he was hungry, I did not give him the chance to eat proper food. When he felt like doing something fun, I said to him that he was being childish and having fun was not productive  . And worst of all, when he was sick and needed care, I did not care. I told him to get up and get to work. And when he did, I never told him he did good work. You could say I was ashamed of him," he said. "I wanted to get rid of him because he just wasn't good enough for me---but couldn't." "But that was heartless!" He nodded. "Then one day it all changed. I stood there in front of the bathroom mirror one morning. I saw the dark circles under his eyes, I saw the excess   weight. I saw the hair that needed cutting. And I saw the eyes that once had looked at the world eagerly. Now they were so sad and tired. And there and then I realized he deserved better. So I told the man I had disliked for so many years that he was a good person after all." My jaw   dropped. I looked at him---full of positive energy, in good shape, always ready to encourage others. "Wow..." He winked   at me. "So how about having a little positive conversation with the bathroom mirror? The person in there has the greatest effect on you!" The author's coworker used to be a person who  _  .
was very proud of himself treated people differently worked hard to keep fit criticized himself a lot