One of my favorite uses of Facebook is to see all the great quotes people post!

This one caught my eye the other day:

“A bad attitude is like a flat tire. You can’t go anywhere until you change it”.

It jumped out at me as I find it perfect for our family right now!

With all the different camps, activities and events going on in the summer, you can have a lot of fun. But one rotten apple can spoil the whole bushel! One bad attitude can change a fun time into a miserable one. A bad attitude can guarantee a really bad time.

There’s a story that I wish I could find so it would be more eloquent, but I’ll have to use my own words. I have told my kids this story often enough – who knows – maybe one day it will sink in for all of us (because yes, we all struggle with the attitudes:)

A man was moving from one town to another. Along the way to his new destination, he met another man by the side of the road. The traveller stopped to talk to the man at the side of the road and asked if he knew anything about the new destination he was headed to. The man said he did.


“Tell me”, said the traveller, “Are the people in the town up ahead nice? Are they good and kind? Will I like it there”?


“Well”, said the man by the side of the road, “How did you find the people in the last town you were in”?


“Oh, they were rotten, unkind, mean spirited and boring”, responded the traveller.


“Unfortunately, my friend, the people in this new town you are headed to are exactly the same way””.


The traveller shook his head sadly and continued on his way.


A second traveller came along and stopped by the man at the side of the road as well. He too was headed to the new town and wanted to know how the people were in the new town.


“Well”, said the man at the side of the road, “how did you find the people from your old town”?


“Oh, they were great! They were kind, warm and welcoming” said the traveller.


“Wonderful! You will find the people in your new village just like that”, said the man at the side of the road.


Grinning, the traveller continued on his way, excited to get to his new town.

What’s the difference? Attitude.

I know it is hard to always be positive. Sometimes circumstances stink. Sometimes life is unfair. Sometimes we just feel plain awful. But when we can’t control the wind, we certainly can adjust our sails.

So change your attitude!