34 CHOICES | 2016 AUTUMN ISSUE
Photo courtesy of NASA
he first time I ever thought of attitude as being different from mood was when I was watching the Apollo Moon Landing on television. I recall the narrator discussing the “attitude” of the spacecraft. Attitude? I thought. Attitude coming from a machine? How can that be?
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What he was referring to was the direction the spacecraft was facing and how it was approaching the target. Oh, now I get it! Point of view. Let’s look at our own attitude that way. What is our angle of view, or the direction from which we are approaching whatever it is we have an attitude toward. For example; if my attitude to-
ATTITUDE:
POLITICS, RELIGION & REALITY BY JIM CATHCART ward dogs is that they are “Man’s best friend” and wonderful companions then I will diminish any bad news I hear about dogs and look for some other cause to blame for a dog’s misbehavior. “The owner must have abused him. It’s not the dog’s fault,” I’ll assume. From another view; if I have a fear of dogs then I will see them as a potential threat and dangerous to be around. So I would be more likely to avoid dogs or seek to control them as much as possible. Same dogs, different attitudes toward them. Where did those attitudes come from?
Maybe you were attacked by a dog in your youth, or perhaps your family dog helped save your life. Now apply this concept to yourself. How do you think about yourself? Are you a fundamentally good person? Are you the kind of person who can be trusted? Are you a good friend? Is your life going to be abundant or limited? Do you have good luck or bad luck? What is your destiny? Does God like you or when you were