Petit à petit, Yuan fait son nid.

 Lesson 53 Attitude

Before I came to Canada, numerous times, when Jose talked about the life in Canada and the people living there, he used to say, “Yuan, I am telling you, mark my words. You will love Canada, because people here are soooo nice, they are soooo warm; soooo sweet, soooo human, sooo…” 

Ok, now, I am here. Honestly speaking, I didn’t feel that the Canadian people are soooo different from us, Chinese people.

In China, when we meet each other, we say, “Hello!” “Salut!”; when we feel grateful, we say “Thank you!”; when we feel sorry, we say “Sorry!” Exactly the same thing here. Are people here better mannered; more civilized? Hmmmm, I doubt it. 

But still, every time; I mean every time we went outside to do something, Jose would turn to me and say “Ahh, you see, this gentleman is so nice.” “Ahh, Yuan, she is so sweet, so tender.” In fact, there were all very small things, not big deals. 

One day, after we went to the CLSC to have our Flu vaccines Jose, again, said, “Ahh, you see, the nurse you met was so nice and so professional.” 

Suddenly, I laughed and asked him, “Hey, Jose, you keep saying that this woman is nice; that this guy is a gentleman; that the girl here is sweet. Everybody is nice, could you tell me that one person is not nice if it was the case?” 

Jose laughed, “Hahah, not really. But it is a sweet trick to have a nice day, isn’t it?” 

Hmmmm, good point! 

In fact, everything; every feeling depends on your attitude. You are just like a mirror to the others. If you believe that people are nice around you, then most possibly it will be true because, indeed, people will be responding to your attitude and will become nice towards you. 

Often times, I watched Jose crossing a street. He never rushes, he takes the time to wave a hand and smile to the drivers who are sitting in the cars and have nicely stopped to wait for him to cross the street. He smiles; he winks. He is always a true gentleman when he is doing that. 

Sometimes I feel very touched because I believe that the drivers are not used to be treated like that. These small but nice gestures generally make the drivers smile also; it could even light up their days. At least, when I am alone, I don’t see that happen often. 

As far as I know, not many people do that; including me. We just rush across the street, taking it as granted. 

But many things can be different or, at least, change for the better if your own attitude changes first. As Jose says, “There are a lot of small tricks to make a beautiful day, but the first step is to change your attitude to be a better person yourself.”