Attitude Adjustment

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When some people have needed my help, I have felt honored to give generously. For example, going in with others to raise money to offset extraordinary medical expenses for a family. I have campaigned and ridden my bike for such causes.

But when it came to spending time with a grumpy old man, with few teeth, who sat in a padded wheelchair, I resisted. He looked liked he'd been that way for quite a while. His clothes twisted around him, his ankles scrawny. Perhaps he'd grown used to the way he looked. Or didn't care. Don't we create our own situations? Reap what we sow? I noticed his dirt-encrusted fingernails, and cringed at the thought of germs.

I offered an artificial smile, and sat down beside him. I was only doing this because I had volunteered. My attitude could have used an adjustment.

However, after spending time with him, he became...well, interesting.

Once he ran a Ferris wheel in an amusement park. He said he used to own a red 57 Oldsmobile, and cruised downtown looking for hot chicks. I laughed at the absurdity of that image compared to how he looked now. When he was a boy, he had milked cows by hand before school. He liked his coffee strong. And he had served in the Korean War.

At some point that afternoon, I stopped noticing his shabby clothes, or the mis-shaven face.

I began to see the person instead of the circumstances.

I left there, a more caring person. And visited him the following week.