[eweissenbach]

One of my "heroes " was Zig Ziglar, who was a motivational and sales trainer, but who taught a lot about life and particularly the value of a positive attitude. One story he told was about a man driving to work, when an elderly driver pulled out in front of him, causing him to slam on his brakes. A collision was averted, but the man began honking his horn and shaking his fist at the older man, screaming and cursing at him. The old man drove on and finally the younger man arrived at work, still livid, and loudly complained about the stupid old fart who almost caused him to wreck. Finally he got to his office and silently seethed with anger the rest of the morning, unable to concentrate on work. Meanwhile, the target for his anger, the elderly gentleman continued on with his day happily oblivious to any angst he may have caused. So the question is, who suffered? Who's day was ruined? Anger generally hurts the one harbors the anger far more than the person they are angry with.
Another story he told to illustrate the point was about him being in an airport for his return home after several speaking engagements. When he stepped into line to secure his boarding pass, the official at the counter got on the PA system and announced that the flight would be delayed for two hours because of mechanical issues. Zig said "Great, this will give mea chance to catch up on some reading, and an opportunity to explore this beautiful airport". Meanwhile another gentleman stormed to the desk and began yelling at the official, saying he had to get to his destination, and he paid good money for this ticket so that he could get there on time, and that this airline is incompetent and all their employees are idiots and on and on, and as Zig said slowly, "the flight was still two hours late." In other words you can make the best or the worst of any situation, itis really up to you.