One short story (maybe for kids)

Mark Twain was a very celebrated American writer (all of you might know him). He is a kind of literary icon; he wrote “The adventures of Tom Sawyer” who is a wide teenager.
Mark Twain explains that in a wonderful sunny summer day, Tom was getting ready to go away to the river (the Mississippi river) when his aunt Polly orders him to paint the garden fence, a very long fence... Tom doesn’t want to paint but aunt Polly is very strict and he has to do. Tom feels specially humiliated because of his friends are going to cross in front of his fence in their way to the river. Tom imagines how his friends are going to make fun of him.
Then Tom has an idea... The first friend arrives and says to Tom:
“Hello I see that you have got to do a very boring and hard work! I’m going to the river to swim!”
Tom carries on painting with a happy expression on his face. Tom’s friend doesn’t understand anything.
The friend keeps on talking to Tom: “You seem to have a good time, are you enjoying this work?”
Tom pretends to be very happy and answers: “Of course I’m really enjoying what I’m doing. At any day you can go to the river swimming but you can’t every day paint a fence”.
The friend is impressed and asks Tom if he can to paint too. He gives Tom an apple thankfully.
More friends arrive; all of them want to paint the fence.
At the end the fence is completely painted and Tom has got many gifts that his friends have given him.

Well, maybe you find that story an innocent story, and really it’s a simple story. But, for me, it teaches that we can change the way we see the things and we can have positive attitudes in situations that apparently have not any interest.
We have to learn to discover the good side of the situations (if it’s possible).