Hearts
and Minds
“Let’s
not look back in anger, or forward in fear, but around in awareness.”
James
Thurber
The
late inspirational writer and speaker, Zig Zigler, said, “Your attitude, not
your aptitude, will determine your altitude.” So many of us need to adjust
our attitude—myself included. Anger is easiest. Most of us can go instantly to
fury about a multitude of things. Those of us who do not express anger overtly
may be seething on the inside. That sort of rage tends to come out in
surreptitious ways—passive aggression, we call it. You might think of it as
dripping a little bit of poison into the mix while speaking nice words and
wearing a smile on your face. A classic example of passive aggression is the
Southern Belle. She is taught that a true lady never shows anger, but oh my
goodness, does she ever exact revenge. It’s wise to be fully conscious in the
presence of such a person—trust me on this one.
Another
questionable attitude we may want to examine during this time of isolation is
the idea of achieving “altitude.” What exactly does that mean? For most Americans,
being capitalists and all, that means making a whole lot of money. Watching it
stack up in the bank. Watching our investments increase exponentially even when
most of the world is hitting a devastating recession. Take Jeff Bezos, owner of
Amazon, for instance. He’s added tens of billions to his personal wealth just since
the pandemic began. My question then becomes, how much is enough? When do we
stop counting our coins? When will Mr. Bezos feel secure enough to begin giving
his money away? When will his morality equal his wealth?
Another
candidate for consideration is aptitude. We are not all created equal. I worked
for more than forty years with people with physical and cognitive disabilities,
and I can tell you that not everyone can take care of themselves. Even when
they strive to do everything they can, there is no possible way for some to survive
in a capitalist society without help. The full measure of our “altitude” for me
will be when we raise our moral consciousness enough to understand and care for
our least capable citizens.
These attitudes
are ripe for consideration, and this is a good time—while we’re preparing for an
election, and while we are deeply into the blame game—to ponder where we stand
in this particular arena. Do we continue to think of success only in monetary terms,
or is it time to evolve a little bit? Can we afford to open our minds and
hearts? Can we afford not to?
In
the Spirit,
Jane
No comments:
Post a Comment