If you can’t be the one you want, love the one you areWhen Jonathan Foster and Andrew Dooyema approached me last week about doing a story (see the front page), they caught me a little off guard.Many of our readers will remember Jonathan and Andrew were crowned homecoming kings by their peers, despite their physical and mental disabilities.It was story-worthy and timely when it happened in 2000 for Andrew and 2003 for Jonathan, but I questioned the news value of a follow-up story.But after interviewing these two for only a few minutes, it didn’t take long to see the angle.Andrew has Down syndrome, but talks about picking up more hours in the hospital maintenance department and finding a girlfriend.Jonathan was born with cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, but he talks about going to college and getting a job.They spoke confidently about their future plans, never once making reference to things they might not be able to do.Their only fear was the prospect of carrying out these goals in the absence of each other. With Jonathan moving to the Twin Cities for rehab, it looks to be a long six months for two friends who are used to seeing each other daily.Their optimism and can-do spirit clearly became the focus of the story.At one point, I even commented to Jonathan’s mother, Carol Foster, “Their attitudes are amazing.”I have long believed that people are either born with the tendency to see the glass half empty, or they’re blessed with the ability to always see it half full.Jonathan and Andrew are clearly glass-half-full people.If anyone has reason to complain or feel sorry for themselves, these two do.But they don’t.Andrew’s mother, Pam Dooyema, told me the touching story of a conference of sorts for families with special needs children.At this conference not too long ago, Andrew, Jonathan and another young man with autism, were posed the question: “If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?”Remarkably, not one of them wanted to change the fact that they were disabled.They had so embraced the disability as part of who and what they are, that it didn’t occur to them to be anything else.We could all take a lesson from them.If we spent a little more time appreciating what’s good in our lives and a little less time trying to change what we don’t like, we could all be as happy as Andrew and Jonathan are.Good luck, King Andrew and King Jonathan, in your courageous adventures that lie ahead. A word of caution to ‘survey’ respondents …It appears the City Administrator is losing support, so rather than ask for opinions, he’s telling residents how to think by way of propaganda mailed from City Hall.If his divisive message in the Outlook wasn’t disappointing enough, his letter to the editor last week and Tuesday’s so-called “survey” clearly illustrate the need for council members to put the brakes on this $74,000-per year runaway train.A survey would imply questions are objectively phrased in a way to accurately measure residential response.This publicly-funded rant (which is costing city tax payers $1,200 in printing and mailing costs) offers disparaging information about a “retaliatory” county government ripping off city residents, then poses leading questions about whether these agreements should continue.I would encourage respondents to discard the survey and use the self-addressed city envelope to mail their own thoughts on city government.