Poor Me

Don't you just hate it when someone says or does something so admirable that it makes your own bad attitude or action seem that much worse? Ian Thiermann did that for me this past week.

Did you hear about Ian? He works 30 hours a week as a greeter at a grocery store making $10/hr. Not bad for a high school kid, but Ian is a long way past that. In fact, he is 90 years old! Recently he lost all of his life savings, $700,000, in the Bernie Madoff (or is it "made off"?) travesty.

Ian's attitude is just remarkable. You can see an interview with him here. There is not even a hint of bitterness or "poor me." The guy is just thankful to have the job he has and is committed to being the best grocery store greeter in town. If I lived in that area, I would frequent that store as often as I could just to be around Ian. In doing so, I would hope that some of his attitude would rub off on me.

Isn't it amazing how easy it is to feel sorry for ourselves when things don't go the way we want them to go. That negative energy doesn't serve us very well. Besides robbing us of the joy of life, it also hinders our ability to move in positive directions. Our mental disposition has more of an impact than we might realize.

Ian Thiermann inspires me to do a little soul searching this week. I think I am something of a 'glass half empty' kind of guy. I wonder if I can change some of that.

Probably not. It's not my fault. If only other people...

Hmm. Looks like this is going to be a challenge. Maybe I should watch the video again.