The Right Attitude

I have a feeling it's that time again...for an attitude adjustment. My tantrums and meltdowns are more frequent as of late so I decided to read. I've always been able to retain things I read if I write them down. So you get to take in some of the learned wisdom as well today. This is an excerpt from my collection...this was recorded in 1975...and here we are decades later and it still is teaching! It's just that good! It's a lengthy story but don't let that stop you.

The great overland bus came to a stop. I looked out of the window to see the fringe of a small town. On the other side of the highway, pastureland stretched in many rolling acres. Suddenly I turned from that peaceful scene to see the reason for our stop. One lone passenger entered. The young man, hesitating a bit, looked shyly around. Noting the vacant place beside me, he asked haltingly, "Do you mind if I sit here?"

"Not at all," I answered, "I like company when I travel. Do sit down."

He removed his cap and slid into the seat. After a moment he inquired, "Going far, lady?"
"Only as far as Fort Worth, that is my home," I replied. "We will be there in a little less than an hour."
"Think of that," he said with a seeming air of relief. "I've been hoping I'd run into someone from there. Don't know much about the place; I grew up on a ranch far out beyond where I boarded the bus. I'm on my way to Fort Worth, but I don't know how to find the school once I am there."

"What school is that? Maybe I can help you," I said.
"It's that real big school; college, I guess you'd call it." Then he went on gravely, "You see, I'm just out of the army, and I'll get to start school. Servicemen can go, you know, and Uncle Sam pays for it."
"You'll be a student at Texas Christian University?" I asked.
"Oh, I don't know just where they'll send me, but I'm all excited over having the chance to go at all. You see I didn't have much schoolin' as I grew up. But before I get started anywhere I have to go to the Forth Worth School, an' take what they call an 'attitude' test. After I take it, they will know where to send me."
"Poor dear," I mused, "he means aptitude, but I can't embarrass him by explaining."
After a short silence he asked enthusiastically, "Ain't it wonderful what they are doing for us guys--sending us to school?"
"Well," I suggested, "the government feels that you did a lot for your country; it is the least the country can do for you."
"Maybe," he drawled, "but what's fighting a few battles amount to if a fellow can get educated? I'm getting the big end of the deal, lady. I've made up my mind to study real hard. I don't want Uncle Sam's money throwed away on me."
Later we stood in the Fort Worth bus station. In his shirt pocket was the slip of paper that was to give him his "attitude" test. With a strong calloused hand he gripped mine, "Thanks a million, ma'am. I feel like I am already on my way to be gettin' that schoolin'. Ain't it wonderful?" As I settled myself and my bags in a taxi, I began to review in my mind the gratitude and enthusiasm displayed by the prospective student. "Why," I thought, "he has the priceless ingredient for success--a right attitude." Perhaps he had used the correct word, after all.

 [ Victor L. Brown 'Eternal Priorities' adapted from A.B. Wells, Sunshine Magazine, September 1963]