Perspective is a great thing. Two people can view the same thing at the same time and if you ask them what they saw, what they felt, what they experienced, you can get two completely different answers.
People who are generally positive about life respond to the things that happen to them in a positive way. Maybe not at first. Maybe they are knocked back on their heels when facing a big setback. I know I have felt that.
But after a while, focus returns and we get back to doing the work. Responding is a positive trait. Reacting is negative. The same setback that might have temporarily knocked a positive person off track, before they responded and got back on course, will finish off the belief in a negative person. He will react, which changes his thought process into a victim mentality that blocks his creativity and problem-solving skills.
Here’s a good story from Zig Ziglar, who was a master at teaching how to respond to adversity. It came from a magazine article published years ago.
A wild life organization was offering a five thousand dollar bounty for every wolf that was captured alive and relocated. Here is that story.
“Sam and Jed took up the challenge and became bounty/fortune hunters. Sam was especially confident, given his and Jed’s knowledge of the wolf's habitat, that they could make a mint.
They spent every day and night scouring the territory looking for wolf packs to target, but didn’t make a single sighting.
Exhausted after five days of searching, they fell asleep late one night around their campfire. Something caused Sam to wake up out of his deep sleep. Leaning up on one elbow, he discovered that he and Jed were surrounded by about fifty growling wolves with flaming eyes and bared teeth.
He poked Jed with a stick and whispered ‘Jed! Wake up! We’re rich!”
Passion brings optimism. I also believe optimism develops passion. While the pro-life movement is not a “religious thing," on our team we take our direction from God in how we deal with people.
Optimists are not in denial about challenges. We recognize the facts and we speak truth. We look at facts, not so we can make excuses for giving up, but rather so we can put the pieces together to build a successful team.
Our job is to defend all innocent living humans, to feed the hungry, care for the sick and lonely, and to be the light of Christ to everyone we meet.
A pessimist would think this to be too daunting a task for a student-led team. They would resist. They would react. They would create reasons why the good work can’t be done.
Our team is too young to realize something can’t be done. So we’ll do it anyway, as we paraphrase William Wilberforce. Everyone is welcome to join us.
Ralph Willemin
Advisor to the Pewamo Protect Life Team
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