July 10, 2014. Harper, Texas. Attitude.

A tall, older man came into the waiting room. He was on the way out of the office after seeing Dr. Stotz, the Neurologist. He was walking very slowly. I was waiting while Ken was meeting with the doctor. The older man looked pleasant and I smiled at him and he spoke to me. He said, "It is just a dim memory when I could move anywhere quickly." I laughed and he laughed and he left the office. But I have been thinking of his comment ever since. What the older man should have said to me was that he was still walking, and walking without a cane or walker. And he was talking well too. Here he was accentuating the part of his life that did not work as well as it did fifty years ago, making himself discouraged. It is a foolish attitude. His brain was obviously working well too. Sitting in the waiting room I saw all kinds of different handicaps. I felt sorry for Dr. Stotz. All the patients I observed were old and stooped. But everyone else seemed to be happy being able to walk and talk. Attitude is all. It is the old story of the glass.