The good news is...

A little while ago, a dear friend whose teenage son is in a great deal of trouble was near tears telling me about the situation.

It is awful.

A nightmare.

Horrible.

Bottom line: their son was going to be in in a correctional facility for a while. 

After finally crying and then sobbing, the mom looked up with the countenance of a child and said, "the good news is I don't have to do his laundry."

I didn't say anything.

"The good news?"

Since that moment, I've heard this phrase many times in different forms from different people in their telling their woes.

After telling problems, we feel obligated to find a silver lining.

Why do we do this? Why do we feel the compulsion to wrap our problems up with a bow?

Are we are trying to take care of the person listening to us - to let them know that we haven't lost all hope?

Is this search for the positive an idealistic desire to find within every rain cloud a silver lining - an attempt to seem grateful at all times?

It doesn't seem like anything we need to do.

And, the good news is, we don't.

Spiritual-religious advice: don't candy coat.