You can make a difference in your community

As an emergency medical technician for three years during college, I spent hundreds of hours in emergency rooms, convalescent homes and renal dialysis centers. My experiences taught me a great deal about people.

Seeing firsthand the catastrophic affects that accidents and illnesses had on individuals and families was heart wrenching.

But what was most revealing was that what we saw was largely avoidable.

Sure, many of the accidents couldn’t be prevented — but the majority of pain and suffering was actually due to an attitude. You may ask how could an attitude cause heart disease or cancer? How could attitude cause such great pain, discomfort, misery and hardship?

The culprit is the “I can’t do anything about it” attitude. You know it well. A person thinks, “I can’t do anything to help myself. I can’t do anything to help others. I can’t do aanything to help my community.”

It’s a pitiful outlook on life and what makes it even sadder is that you and I have been deeply affected by this attitude. People die and suffer each day, solely because they embrace this dysfunctional attitude.

Personally I was not willing to sit back and perpetuate that attitude. I wanted to do something that empowered people with a new attitude, “I am able” attitude. “I am able to make a difference in my health, in my family, and in my community.”

I believe we are at a pivotal point in overthrowing ignorance. Information is available to us like never before.

If each of us were to say, “I’m able to learn and teach and encourage and grow,” then we will usher in an attitude that is so powerful that it will put to rest forever the “I can’t do anything about it attitude.”