The Free Press Journal

When Attitudes Become Allies

- — T.G.L. Iyer

Bing Crosby, popular Hollywood actor and singer of the forties and fifties, made this song very popular : ‘You don’t need to know the language to say you are in love’.

In fact, you don’t need to know any language to say ‘I like you’, or to say ‘I love you’, or to say ‘I envy you’, or to say ‘I like my job’ or to say ‘I am bored’ or to say ‘I am happy’, and so on.

People can speak – communicat­e – without a sound. What we think shows through how we act. Our attitudes are mirrors of our mind. They reflect our thinking.

Professor Erwin H. Schell, an authority on relationsh­ip, says: “There is something more than competence that creates accomplish­ment. It can be defined in a single word called attitude. When our attitude is right, we are at our best.”

I always choose a particular petrol pump to fill up my car tank. This service station is ordinary-looking but it is crowded. I discovered the reason on the very first day. When I entered the pump, an attendant signalled my position for parking and while I was waiting, he wiped the front windshield and said, “Today is a dusty day. Let me wipe the inside of your car too.”

Quickly and efficientl­y he did his job. He filled my tank, tested the air pressure, and when I paid him, he returned my change with a jovial salute. It was only a little courtesy but because of this small gesture, I never go to any other petrol pump. It was obvious to me that this little service attracts customers, inflates profits and makes the place popular. Now the owner is establishi­ng more branches in the town.

Russell H. Conwell author of Acres of Diamonds, said, ‘‘Money is important. It prints the Bible.” It builds the churches. It builds centres of justice. It creates facilities for health. It is the value of the paper that brings food to eat. But what is puzzling about money is the backward approach using money to buy people, to corrode behaviour, to destroy values and degenerate culture.

Well, money cannot be harvested unless you plant seeds to grow money. Those seeds are services to others. Money automatica­lly follows. When you grow correct attitudes, they become your allies.

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