I just finished another mystery novel by Canadian author, Louise Penny. One of the characters was an older, very ugly man, very wealthy and a survivor of a Japanese POW camp during WWII. He had an air of calm, positive life, but was very quiet and known to "do his sums" in the morning and evening during a sort of quiet contemplation near a lake at a lodge in the mountains of southern Canada. It was thought his "sums" were the monies he knew were adding up due to his wife's wealth and his own investments.

Near the end of the novel, he and the chief inspector are conversing when he corrects the inspector who had called him a "prisoner" during WWII. He tells the c.i., he was never a prisoner, even though he was kept as a POW. He was also one of the only ones to survive the ordeal. He asks the c.i. how he thinks he survived those terrible days when other didn't even though they shared the same awful depredations.

The c.i. asks how he survived and why he didn't consider himself a prisoner. The old man tells him, he counted his sums. When the c.i. asks for clarification, the old man says, "I counted my blessings, every morning and night." Which, of course, was what he continued throughout his life.

Throughout the book, she frequently quotes Milton's,

The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n.

Penny's writing of it is much better than what I've posted, but I still love the resolution and try to do the same, though I do whinge sometimes. I know I have many blessings, esp. compared to so many.

May all find peace and prosperity in the coming year.