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| Whiners |
When my grandmother was raising me in Stamps, Arkansas,
she had a particular routine when people who were known
to be whiners entered her store. My grandmother would ask
the customer, "How are you doing today, Brother Thomas?"
And the person would reply, "Not so good today, Sister
Henderson. You see, it's this summer heat. I just hate it.
It just frazzles me up and frazzles me down. It's almost
killing me." Then my grandmother would stand stoically,
her arms folded, and mumble, "Uh-huh, uh-huh." And she
would cut her eyes at me to make certain that I had heard
the lamentation.
As soon as the complainer was out of the store, my
grandmother would call me to stand in front of her. And
then she would say the same thing she had said at least
a thousand times, it seemed to me. "Sister, did you hear
what Brother So-and-So or Sister Much-to-Do complained
about?" And I would nod. Mamma would continue, "Sister,
there are people who went to sleep all over the world
last night, poor and rich and white and black, but they
will never wake again. And those dead folks would give
anything, anything at all for just five minutes of this
weather that person was grumbling about. So you watch
yourself about complaining, Sister. What you're supposed
to do when you don't like a thing is change it. If you
can't change it, change the way you think about it.
Don't complain."
It is said that persons have few teachable moments in
their lives. Mamma seemed to have caught me at each one
I had. Whining is not only graceless, but can be dangerous.
It can alert a brute that a victim is in the neighborhood.
--Maya Angelou |
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