ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING

Attitudes are contagious. Are yours worth catching? ~Dennis and Wendy Mannering

I had the opportunity of teaching English in the lower class of a senior high school and whiles teaching, I realized that some of the students lacked reading skills which made my work more difficult for me. I then decided to write a simple sentence that contained the word “NOTHING” on the board for one of the girls to read so that could help her. I had earlier on identified that she did not even know how to write her own name well.

As she stood up and looked at the board, she read the sentence one by one and as she got to the word “NOTHING”, she said “NO" "THING”. I turned to look at the board again just to be sure that I had read the same thing as she was reading to the class and I was shocked. Instead of “NOTHING” she pronounces it “NO" "THING”. I pronounced the word again for her to repeat after me and she kept saying the same thing. I got tired and had to stop.

This scenario reminds of how people have their own way of looking at issues and the things that happens around us. A simple NOTHING written on a board is pronounced "NO" "THING" by an SHS student who supposedly has gone through primary and Junior High School of the Ghanaian educational system. I do not blame the girl for seeing it that way but the environment in which she came from. This environment is not just her school but her family, friends, community and the educational system as a whole. All these factors affected her way of seeing, perceiving and looking at things.

It is this same environment that guides our thoughts and actions in our everyday life. After all is said and done, it is this same level of influence that informs our choice of words and actions. I can't imagine myself engaging in an aurguement with such a person who is clouded by their immediate environment and nothing else matters. Such is the situation happening all around us and we just enter into an arguement without considering other possibilities and options that could be available for us to consider. Life is good and all rosy but it will depend on your attitude to determine how you understand, percieve and interpret your life.

We awaken in others the same attitude of mind we hold toward them. ~Elbert Hubbard