Positive People Prevail
(TIB assignment)
You know that pied piper coworker who has such a sunny disposition that it makes you wonder what is in her coffee? That relative who defies all odds with just a smile and a prayer? Or that student who gets all the breaks simply because everyone likes him? There is a reason for that. Good things happen to people who believe things are GOOD— This I believe!
I had the opportunity to visit my terminally ill aunt the other day. She was projected to die a few years ago, but is miraculously still with us. She recently moved out of her home in Florida to be near her family in the Twin Cities area. I cannot fathom the stress of orchestrating the moving process in her cancer-riddled condition, but she told us about it like nothin’-doin’.
After selling her beloved home (in 4 days flat!) that she had shared with my late uncle, a variety of improvements needed to be made in a matter of a few weeks. Her regular roofer friend was not available, so she had to find another one quickly and inexpensively. During the job, this man got to know my wheelchair bound aunt, a retired pastor. On the last day he bent on one knee, took her hand and asked if he could pray with her.
Kris looked at my husband and me, rapt with her charm, amidst the cluttered chaos of her new apartment, and said, “So there I was, in my living room, praying with my ROOFER!” She went on to detail how the moving company she hired backed out 5 days before lift-off, but she scored an awesome outfit to step in at the last second and for less money!
The moral of her story (Pastors always have a message, you know.) was this: Sometimes when things don’t go as planned, they turn out ever BETTER!
How is this woman still alive to continue to inspire us? She is terminally ill, but also terminally POSITIVE. This. I. Believe.
My husband and I drove home deep in the throes of life reevaluation. And I continue to consider how a positive mentality affects our lives as a whole, at home and at work.
We all know those people who are lucky. Is Aunt Kris lucky because she is fighting for her life every day? Of course not. It is because she feels so fortunate to be able to spend another day with her family.
Think of a naturally sunny person you know. They are the ones you want to be around, you want to be like, you want to work with, live with, teach.
‘Andrea’ is a student I had been fortunate to have in class for a few years. I can’t say “teach”, because she taught ME much more. She was small and mousy and super smart, which in middle school means almost certain ridicule. But she was able to smile in the face of her adversaries, and laugh at herself, and shake words off like sand. She LOVED things and showed her enthusiasm in a way unknown to most junior high lemmings.
I like to think I had something to do with the warm climate of my class, but Andrea had a way with people. Her eternal optimism spread like fever in my classroom, transforming a humdrum pack of snarling naysayers into malleable, enthused readers and writers. What’s more, she had ambivalent staff seeking her out, offering opportunities, looking to enrich her life.
I know I put Andrea on a pedestal of sorts, but I believe that her positive attitude was her saving grace, as well as the inspiration that I needed, that her classmates needed, to be a better teacher, to be better students, to promote a healthy environment, to produce to our potential.
Positive people get positive results — this I believe.
