Decide To Be Emotionally Resilient
It's so easy to take offense at the many unkind and insensitive
things people do and say. Some become so wounded from such experiences,
they allow themselves to be limited by them. Their likelihood for
positive progress and achievement often becomes the casualty of such
experiences. When insulted and injured, we are tempted to wilt away and
sulk in our self-pity at having been mistreated.
Achievers aren't immune to injury but they do something many aren't as
willing to do. They decide to let go of offense and move on. They opt to
forgive rather than fume over the pettiness of others.
Many years ago the great Booker T. Washington was appointed head over
the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. As a black man, he had been insulted
on many occasions and had refused to allow those insults from the
poisoned minds of the prejudiced to limit him. He was a winner
determined to make a difference.
One day, Mr. Washington was walking past the home of a wealthy family
when the woman who lived there saw Washington and assumed he was a
hired-hand that her husband had secured to do yard work. She called him
over to where she stood and asked him to chop some wood for her. Mr.
Washington removed his coat and proceeded to chop the wood for her. He
carried the wood into the kitchen when a servant girl recognized him.
She went immediately to the woman that had asked Washington to chop the
wood and told her of her mistake.
The next day, the woman ventured to Mr. Washington's office and began to
apologize for her mistake. "I did not know it was you I put to
work."
Washington was polite in his response, "It's entirely all right,
madam. I like to work and I'm delighted to do favors for my
friends." Clearly, Washington was a winner. His manner was so
winsome that the wealthy woman began to give liberal amounts of money to
the Institute. She also persuaded many of her wealthy friends to do
likewise.
Let's face it, in life there will be many wounds others will inflict
upon us. If we're to achieve, we must choose an attitude that rises
above the intents of others. We must decide that we'll not only survive
such experiences but we'll prevail.
