Attitude

“. . . everything can be taken from a man but one thing:  the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”  (Viktor Frankl, 1905-1997) 

A good story, well told, is long remembered.  Over the many years I was a psychiatrist and a teacher, I carried in my metaphorical black bag a small repertoire of stories to bring out when the occasion seemed right. 

One story, in particular, I told many times.  it was based on a real-life experience. It was about two kids who took a field trip with their class to the botanical gardens.  Each child went on the same day, same bus, saw the same flowers, had the same tour guide, etc., etc.  One child comes back to the school bus scowling, complaining to me about how hot and muggy the day was, how the whole experience had been nothing but boring and miserable.  The other child comes back to the bus skipping, telling me about how beautiful the flowers were and how much interesting ‘stuff’ there was to know.

This is not a story about right or wrong.  Each child was right.  It was a hot and miserable day.  And, the flowers were lovely.  The story is about the power of attitude.  Each child entered into the gardens with a very different attitude and set of expectations.  As a result, one noticed the weather.  The other found joy in the beauty and interest in the learning.  Same field trip, yet each left the gardens having had a very different experience.   Attitude was everything.

Once, I was teaching an introductory philosophy course to a group of resident physicians.  We were a few lessons into the course and it wasn't going so well.  I had observed little energy or interest in the subject matter, on the part of the students.  The topic for that day was 'free will'.  I began class by asking them to consider Viktor Frankl’s assertion that “to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances” was, in fact, a human freedom.

Viktor Frankl was a psychiatrist and a concentration camp survivor.  In his book, Man’s Search for Meaning, he wrote about the concentration camp and his observations of inmate behavior.  Under the harsh conditions of the camp, many inmates gave up and many others tried to survive by any means.  However, he also observed that there were a few inmates who chose to offer comfort and to share their last remnants of food.  From his experience, Frankl concluded that we are free to choose, “to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.”

Most of my students said they believed in free will.  Most agreed with Frankl that attitude was a free choice.  I then asked them to consider the attitude with which they entered class.  Did they come eager and ready to learn or did they come with low expectations?  If, as they agreed, attitude was a choice, I said it was their responsibility to show up in class with a positive attitude.  I acknowledged that I too had a responsibility to teach with a positive attitude, with good energy and with good ideas.  The lesson that day turned the class around.  Attitude was everything.

One more brief and real-life story. . .  Early in my psychiatry training I met two veterans, both of whom had lost their legs in war; same war, similar injuries, etc. etc.  One of these men was angry, bitter and alcoholic.  The other had returned to school and was a hospital administrator.  Why such different outcomes?  If Frankl was right, perhaps, in the aftermath of terrible adversity, each man still had the freedom to choose his attitude, to choose the manner in which he faced his circumstance.  And attitude was everything.  

End of story.