Attitude

"These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." - John 16:33

The great Lebanese poet Khalil Gibran once said, "Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens." If there is only one great wisdom to learn in a life time, it might have been attitude. It is true that life and death are in the power of the tongue, but our attitude carries our words. People might hear what we have said, but they feel our attitude. Our attitude is our character..Having the right attitude determines our success and failure.

Attitude can be defined as: "A settled way of thinking or feeling about someone or something, typically one that is reflected in a person's behavior." It is not of nature but nurture. It requires knowledge, experience and training. It just can not come by itself, rather we should deliberately act on it. And the best place to foster our attitude is in times of continuous trials and temptations. These are times where we can not say "my way or the high way!"

Like many of my fellow habeshas, I could not endure long without eating "injera," There is only one place in our neighbourhood which sells this precious commodity. Once a week I go to that restaurant to buy my injera. Last Friday I went there but it was not ready. I had been told to wait for a little while and I agreed. If it was not for injera, I might had gone right away. I usually do not like waiting. After a while a Somalian lady came for the same purpose. She had been told to wait and she agreed. However instead of sitting in the waiting room, she went to the kitchen. Strangely enough the cooking of my few injeras took longer than usual. And I became anxious and uneasy. Finally I saw the Somali lady coming out of the kitchen carrying in her two hands a lot of packed injera inside a plastic bag. I was angry and frustrated. And I complained to the head waiter. He was also unhappy by what had happened and apologized. And after waiting some more time my four injeras were ready. By then I had been left with a dilemma of either I should totally stop going to that place or my injera? My choice was crystal clear, "It is my injera." And as of the injera place, it will continue to be a great school of attitude. There I would learn to control my temper and sharpen my composure.

The famous American singer-songwriter, Smokey Robinson, in his poetry called, "A Black American"; he stated that "he refused to be called an African American but a black American." It is in America not Africa the black Americans will continue to face and defeat obstacles. A right attitude is nurtured and prevail inside adversity. And that is one good reason that right now we are all here on this earth but not in heaven.

Love and blessings

Brehane-meskel Araya