Riches and Attitude

A friend of mine had this link on her blog. I thought it was really amazing. The link shows you how rich you are compared to the rest of the world. Very humbling. http://www.globalrichlist.com/

On another note, I am not a big fan of "forwards". There are some that I get that are really funny, some very moving, and some, well... I just hate the ones that tell me I have to email my 10 closest friends in the next 10 minutes and then I will receive 10 blessings.

But I received a forward recently that I thought I would share here that challenged me. It was on attitude.
Here it is:

A 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud man, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with his hair fashionably coifed and shaved perfectly, even though he is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today. His wife of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary. After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, (how many of us can say we would wait patiently for hours?), he smiled sweetly when told his room was ready. As he maneuvered his walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of his tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on his window. "I love it," he stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy. "Mr. Jones, you haven't seen the room; just wait."

"That doesn't have anything to do with it, he replied. Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn't depend on how the furniture is arranged... it's how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it."

"It's a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do. "Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open, I'll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I've stored away. Just for this time in my life."