About 10 years ago, I was in contact with an older woman named Gloria, who was like a grandmother to me. I had mentored both her grandsons, who were both at the same prison I was. The youngest went home, and got killed 30 days later. The older one went home, found a job, and has been doing well ever since. I stayed in contact with Gloria until she died in 2014 at 81 years old. She was a mix of black, German, and Native American. She was born in Alabama – a very high-yellow, spirited woman who used to always tell me about her life growing up in the south. She would also tell me things I should be doing to have a blessed life like she did. She always read books, and had a positive attitude no matter what was going on in her life. I remember when someone hacked into her bank account once, and stole over $60k.
She told me, “Well, God let me live this long without being rich, so money has no value to me, Leonard. Whoever took my money must have needed it way more than me, so God bless them.”
I just shook my head at how forgiving she was. Gloria was the bomb! I was so blessed to meet her face to face once on a prison visit. She changed my thinking after that one special visit. As we sat there and talked about her two grandsons, I asked her, “Gloria, why do you read two inspirational books a
week?”
She said, “Leonard, I have to keep working on a positive attitude at all times. My positive attitude doesn’t work automictically as I’m human, you know.”
I sat back and laughed as she always knew just the right things to say.
The following is what Gloria taught me about having the right attitude:
“Leonard, we can’t choose how many years that God will give us to live, but we can choose how much positivity we bring to others. We can’t choose the beauty of our faces, but we can control the expressions on them. Leonard, we often try, and fail to control things we can’t, and seldom do we choose the right things with what we can control – like having a positive attitude. A happy person is not defined by having money, or a certain set of great circumstances, but rather a person with a great attitude!”
Advocate / Mentor
Leonard E. Love