Voltaire once said that “Optimism is the madness of insisting that all is well when we are miserable”, and famous Irishman Oscar Wilde believed that “the basis of optimism is 
sheer terror”. Science doesn’t agree: a huge study conducted by Hilary Tindle of the University of Pittsburgh showed that optimists are living healthier and longer. The psychologist Ralf Scharzer found that patients with an optimistic outlook recovered better from operations, were more content, and returned to work faster. Even an artificially generated positive outlook resulted in more positive outcomes found Barbara Fredrickson, a psychologist from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (All references from the German magazine Der Spiegel.)
While I like Humanities, and Voltaire and Wilde, this time I am going to side with Science. Everything will work out and be just fine. Why? Because there is such an amount of positive energy encouraging Pádraig to overcome his injuries that their effect just will have to fade away.
Today, we had a meeting with the senior neurologist looking after Pádraig. (She once 
spent 6 months driving through Kerry in a VW Bus bringing medical services to the people of Kerry.) Her main message was that we have time and that she has seen several positive signs in Pádraig that are really promising. Progress is slow, but steady. – Pádraig now seems to have settled. Breathing, temperature, heart, oxygen levels, and blood pressure are all good. For the second consecutive day, he has been off the ventilator for more than 12 hours. He is not getting antibiotics and seems to have less phlegm.
I brought in the collages of pictures assembled by Pádraig’s friends at their first 
gathering in his support at the Conradh, together with an Irish poster ‘made in Hyannis’, and a wonderful magic quilt on loan from a friend. Finally, the quite sterile looking room (even without us coming in with face masks and full-length aprons) got a bit of a personal touch. To my surprise, the German guardians of hygiene, the mother of all HIQAs, allowed and, in fact, encouraged me to put up these posters with his pictures – rather than seeing in them a microbiologist’s nightmare come true (we had to take these posters down in Ireland before the HIQA visits as they were seen as ‘unhygienic’ – they aren’t covered in plastic and cannot be washed.).
Today was a good day, a day for optimism, strength, faith, and a positive outlook.
Today’s German Music Tip
Bushido, Alles wird gut (2010) [22m people have seen this video on youtube, and someone even translated the lyrics into English underneath. You will find the German lyrics here. I don’t quite like rap usually, but this one isn’t that bad at all.]
What’s hot
Optimism
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
“…und wenn sie meinen du stehst nie wieder auf, dann lass sie reden junge
zeig ihnen das ist dein traum, du wirst ihn leben.” (Bushido)
Hospi-Tales 
lovely to see the sunflowers blooming for him again! XXX
Nothing like sunflowers, Seosabh:)
Hello, Reinhard. Reading your latest post is a lovely way to start the day. I’m going to take inspiration from Pádraig (not for the first time) and go out and be as strong and positive as I can in relation to everything in my day. It’s something I try to do anyway, but it is nice to get a bit of reinforcement!
One thing I’m going to do when these next five months of intensive study are over is learn to swim. I don’t aspire to getting to be in Pádraig’s league (!!), but my decision is by no means unrelated to him, and so I’m serious about this in a way I wasn’t before.
Though all this talk won’t get my Natural Law essay done ……….
All the best, Louise.
Hello Louise, I took up swimming about a year ago, having driven kids to the pool at 5 or 6am for years. First, I felt like I was water-boarded, gasping for air. When I got the hang of it (I thought), I was so (over-)confident that I joined a ‘sea’ swim (it was actually in the Liffey) which I exited after 5 minutes in shock. As someone not giving up lightly, I decided to try it again the next day in Sandymount – and was pulled out after I had apparently exceeded the maximum time given for the ‘race’ and the organizers got worried I would die of hypothermia… I decided to stick with the running for the rest of the season (just couldn’t face another embarrassment like this). The thing I am going to try (again) once things have settled a bit here is to learn Irish. It’ll my umpteen’s try, but as long as I’ll do it indoors, there won’t be a danger of getting hypothermia (though I know it’ll take me a looong time:). – Reinhard
Reinhard,
Thank you for posting such eloquently written blogs, allowing Pádraig’s friends back home to keep up to date with developments and take hope from the signs of improvement Pádraig is showing. I got to know Pádraig when we spent two weeks in An Cheathrú Rua, Co.Galway as part of our Irish degree in Trinity. He was busy preparing for his year as Reachtaire of the Cumann Gaelach yet took the time to socialise and make new friends …which marked the beginning of our series of many lively debates! We miss him terribly in the Trinity community, on Cumann Gaelach nights out especially, where a beaming smile from him was always guaranteed. We can only take courage from the strength and hope you as a family exude. You all remain in my thoughts and prayers. Nárbh fhada go mbeidh sé ar ais ar a shean-léim arís. Take care,
Ailbhe Nic Cába.
Hello Ailbhe, thank you very much for your kind words and encouragement. Since the accident, Pat and I have got to know so many of Pádraig’s good friends who have shared accounts like the one you are telling about your stay in An Cheathrú Rua. Yes, Pádraig is a great debater:)
You know the ‘thing’ about ‘father and son’ and the father’s paranoia (or fault?) of never spending enough time with the son…? Well, one effect of the accident is that I now spend more time than ever with Pádraig and I am learning things about his student/adult life that make me really proud and happy. And I am sure, we’ll have these debates again very soon!
Please god! He’s a man of many talents, anything he does is always done well! You can be very proud of him. Great news today about the independent breathing.
Thank you, Ailbhe! I am sure that there is no-one better then Pádraig, with his determination and focus, to get through this. He just needs to be patient, in addition to be determined and strong.