Point of View

My sisters-in-law are both lovely and talented women but with opposite outlooks on life.
My sister-in-law Hatesme invited our family for dinner but Hunneypunkin declined because I wasn't feeling well.  Hatesme was offended, told everyone she knew that we'd snubbed her, got us permanently excluded from the annual clan chili feed and fashion show, and in twelve years has never extended another invitation.
My sister-in-law Lovesme invited our family for dinner too but Hunneypunkin declined again because I wasn't feeling well still.  Lovesme sent me a giant get-well card, a dozen balloons, a whole herd of flowers, a case of 7-Up, a box of Bugs Bunny Band-aids, a zebra-print body pillow, a quart of Vick's Vapo-rub, a cauldron of Campbell's condensed chicken noodle soup, a year's supply of vitamin C, a thermometer, a ten-pound box of Saltines, a hot water bottle, a private nurse, a life-size cardboard cutout of Jeremy Renner, and a raincheck for dinner when I felt better.
The difference in point of view intrigues me.  Both sisters-in-law were raised, as I was, in properly dysfunctional, perfectly lower-middle-class families so neither should be more predisposed to being positive than the other.  Their political stances, religious views, and family lifestyles are similar enough that one would expect their perspectives to be similar.
Because of being chronically fatigued and therefore often unable to get off my butt, I've had a lot of time to reflect on people's behavior.  I haven't reached a practical, logical conclusion as to the reasons for the differences in people's attitudes, but I've decided that it is a choice, and I've chosen my own point of view.  Perhaps if I sent Hatesme that life-size cardboard cutout, her outlook on life could be different.