Qualities: CANCER

Health talk bores me. It is too often repetitive, self-centered, complaining, negative and counter-productive, opposite to the philosophy of optimism, self-confidence and positive-attitude brain training I preach and follow. Nevertheless, here's my story, as it makes my central point.

Two months ago, a routine examination found an enlarged prostate. Despite any other symptoms, tests showed it to be cancer in an advanced state. Until recently, depending on the degree discovered, this was usually allowed to continue, the cure worse than the disease; men usually died of something else long before the slow-growing cancer became a threat. But, now that we are living to be 90 and beyond, it is better just to take it out and eliminate the problem. So we did. Two weeks ago, in a perfect eight-hour operation, it was removed; analysis revealed no other location. I'm clean. 22 hours later, to the applause of the recovery nursing staff who loved my attitude and accompanied me to the front door of the hospital, I walked to my car, drove home, walked a mile, and got a good night's sleep, enabled by my top physical condition and positive attitude. We will have to watch a few things, but I go on as before with exactly the same attitude I have had for years. The fighter pilot must believe he is immortal, he can't expect death as he dives against the guns, he must be positive in order to do his job. This spreads to everything in life, and is ineradicable.

Nine days later I returned to work as a customer service rep for one of the world's largest companies. For five months, beginning my fifth career, I had been learning and waiting for my 50 years of teaching, managing and leading to pay off. That day it did, as I was surprised and gratified to learn that I had been lifted from the hundreds on the floor of the Customer Relations Division and promoted to Training Team Leader, supervisor of trainers, developers and programs, with responsibility extending to the training of our team leaders, our international divisions and all but the top management. With respect, I will find a way to teach them something too. How marvelous that my boss and my company pay attention to my credentials and my attitude rather than my age. I will work twice as hard to insure they were right.


What though the field be lost?
All is not lost – the unconquerable will,
And study of revenge, immortal hate,
And courage never to submit or yield:
And what is else not to be overcome?
––John Milton, Paradise Lost, 1667

Onwards!
––Last Word of the Film, Clint Eastwood, Any Which Way You Can, 1980

Call it faith, call it vitality, call it the will to live, call it the religion of tomorrow morning, call it the immortality of man, call it whatever you wish; it is the thing that explains why man survives all things and why there is no such thing as a pessimist.
––G.K. Chesterton

I am still a fighter pilot, although I haven’t blown a fighter for 16 years, because it is, above all, a matter of attitude. In essence, a fighter pilot is a self-confident, spirited, dedicated professional who never, never quits. Symbolically, life is an air battle: If you lose your courage and stamina and your intense will to survive and win, the enemy will get behind you and shoot you down. Apply what it takes to be a fighter pilot to everything you do in life, and success will fly with you. Spirit is the fuel of the fighter pilot. Skill is half the requirement for success. Attitude is the other half.
––John Roberts, The Fighter Pilot’s Handbook, 1992

I will never give up. I am very ambitious. My dreams and visions are frequently beyond my immediate reach, but they are not unplanned or unreachable. I have often failed, sometimes stupidly, sometimes massively. But, although I learn positive lessons from experience, failure has no bearing on my hard-core determination to succeed. I simply do not allow myself to get discouraged. I do not let other people define my attitude or success. It is not a bad idea to have a sensible exit strategy in ambitious endeavors, but that revised course is different from entertaining failure. If ever the thought of failure presents itself, I vigorously drive a stake through its black heart and return to my ambitious plan without remorse, indeed with an even greater sense of satisfaction and motivation.
––John Roberts

Determination sometimes goes beyond the strong desire to succeed. Sometimes it goes beyond the will to win, beyond your best effort. Sometimes it is a pure matter of survival, a fight to the finish. Then, the fighter, the winner, finds inside something unprecedented that concentrates ultimate strength and enables victory. It becomes a conquest of weakness as well as the enemy. It becomes a defining moment that changes you forever. Or, it doesn’t, and you quit or you fail or you die.
––John Roberts

The optimists and pessimists of the world seem to be set in their ways. They do not easily change. But, it's a one-way street, only the pessimists need to see the light. There are even those who cycle between extremes of euphoria and despair. Most of us have our usual ups and downs; but the best of us figure out how to generate optimism, and apply it to our daily lives and our long-range goals. It does not always just come naturally; it takes thinking and work to apply it to all the different parts of our lives. Almost always, that requires overcoming difficulties and depressing things. A permanent and positive state of mind is not easily achieved. Other qualities are required.

The person with a positive attitude has an extra strength and consistent enthusiasm that many others do not have. Thinking and acting positively leads to positive results. A negative attitude is self-fulfilling. Positive thinking opens new doors, creates new ideas and generates the optimism and excitement that change behavior. Attitude is a general atmosphere or approach that conditions everything, not nearly as specific as policy or objectives. It should be an equal partner with motivation, determination and persistence, rarely slipping from maximum degree. It should be the hot nuclear core of your personality.