Attitude

Two years ago, I worked for a foremost and well-respected design company. It was part of my job to write, compile and send out a summary of our notable projects to international clients. In my research, I came across a project that one of our teams undertook for 2002. It was the design of the memorial for the headquarters of TJX (TJ Maxx) in memory of their seven employees that perished in the 9/11 attacks. The husband of one employee came upon a book that she was reading before her death. It was a book by Charles Swindoll, and his wife had bookmarked a particular page which contained a passage that she loved. It left such a deep impression on him that he decided to have it inscribed in her memorial. This is what it says:

ATTITUDE
by Charles Swindoll

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company, a church, a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you. We are in charge of our attitudes.

I have read some books by Charles Swindoll and found his writings to be extremely inspiring. I never came across this particular piece of writing until then. The beauty and the truth of it struck me so hard that I transcribed it, and shared it to everyone I knew via email. It is something I try to remember every single day from the very first day I read it.

Now that 2005 is upon us, I reflect on it once again, praying that no matter what the year brings to me and my family, that we will continue to let these words, and the strength of our faith, translate freely into our lives.