Every coin has two sides. . .

Just as every coin has two sides, every story has two sides also.

Sometimes, there are three sides, yours, the other party and the truth. But that’s a story for a different day.

Today, I want to talk about attitude and how one person’s attitude can change the world one person at a time.

Once again, everyone knows that I’m older than Methuselah and as a result of all of my years of living, I have learned a few things. Along with learning, I’ve changed my views, more than once or twice, on how I feel about certain issues. One thing that hasn’t changed is how you treat people on a daily basis. As most of you know, I was the ‘mean lady’ at both MHS and MMS for many years. I was often asked how I dealt handling misbehaved students repeatedly who were sent to ISS (in-school suspension). In all my years in that position, I learned fairly quickly, there were different levels of misbehavior and many different factors.

The system isn’t perfect by any means. Sometimes, a student rubs a teacher the wrong way, or the teacher is stressed and sometimes, a student is just a little spitfire who truly is not affected by discipline or the effect his attitude and actions have on a teacher. Every once in a while, you find a teacher with little patience for misbehavior so she or he may be quicker to respond to a behavior issue than say one with the patience of Job.

Either way, paths get crossed up and I had job security for a lot of years. One thing I wish I had realized earlier in my tenure was that everyone has a bad day, how far they take that bad day sometimes depends on the obstacles they face during the day. One word mistaken in their interpretation of that word can go a long way in making or breaking a child, most especially one between the ages of 12-18. A couple of years ago, there was a horrific wreck that occurred in North Carolina.

A former Jackson County resident was involved in that wreck. I follow this young man on Facebook and when I saw his post and the black screen where a video was supposed to be said, “GRAPHIC CONTENT” and gave you the choice to view, I knew it was going to be bad. The young man was obviously alive as he was posting on social media, so I opened the video. And yes, it was graphic. A lady driving in the opposite direction attempted to pass four cars and in doing so, crossed the double yellow line and hit him head on.

He goes on to say the impact was so harsh that his knees were up on his face, and he was in a ball below the steering wheel, “Hard to lose consciousness when the engine has moved into the console and is burning your body. I walked away from this crash, legitimately crawled out of the car and walked away without a broken bone or internal bleeding. The woman that hit me lost both her legs. I get up every morning and ask God to let His will, whether active or passive be done, and yesterday He actively decided to keep me alive.”

This young man could have been so bitter, so angry that it could have changed the good path he’s worked so hard to achieve in recent years. Instead, he saw it as yet another opportunity for him to continue his life on earth and gave all the credit to the man above.

He later updated his status of the wreck saying the lady had lost her life. He has parents and grandparents in Jackson County and a ton of friends. Being the positive gentlemen he is, and the loyal Tennessee Volunteers fan he is, he posted that just three days later about the Tennessee Alabama game, “God kept me alive so I could watch Tennessee beat Alabama – change my mind.”

He sat in a chair behind a table with the sign taped onto it, still bandaged from his injuries. He could have easily been full of resentment because he had traveled to visit far from Montana where he has recently relocated, but he didn’t. At the time, I read comments on his post, and all are for the best of wishes for him to fully recover, all are super positive. As I read them, I couldn’t help but think how different the comments would have been had his original post taken on a different side, a negative or bitter side like “WHY ME?”

Everyone knows how stubborn and one-sided I can be, but this was my same take on Hurricane Michael. With all the damage, all the lost trees, the homes, we were spared so many lives that could have easily been in the hundreds. Still today, I constantly see posts about Michael, the gift that keeps on giving. I want to say, “Just put it to rest, move on with your life, enjoy the scenery that wasn’t visible to you before and treasure your memories but MOVE ON!” Some homes and properties are still not completely repaired – mine being one of them – but it’s all good. I have a roof over my head, electric, heat and air so it’s all good.

The cosmetics will come in time and until they do, it’s okay. I’ve had more wrecks than anyone could imagine, and I have been so fortunate to have never sustained an injury. I’ve matured, slowed down considerably, and with that being said, I have never been charged in any wreck that I had. However, after reading about the true miracle of this young gentleman last week, I hope should I ever have another wreck, my attitude can be half what his was and is. I can say for sure, it wasn’t in previous wrecks, especially in my younger years.

Attitude, it can move mountains – just make sure it moves them in the right direction if you’re the mover and that’s from the matured Prissie.