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By Abdullatif Sharaa
was out on Saturday to run some errands. I stopped on my way from Abu Halifa to Shuwaikh at a Hawally coffee mill where I was very pleased to see how things were organized and health ministry stipulations were followed to the letter. Distance was maintained, masks were worn and employees were taking orders at a distance; until three people came in, did not care about the instructions that were written in various places and disturbed the order.
The manager told them politely to follow the requirements, so all obliged except for two who considered the manager’s request as an insult and became very angry and almost turned violent without regard to the safety or health of everyone including themselves. So I decided to leave as did some others, only to find out that one of the troublemakers had blocked my car and was very impolite when I asked him to move his vehicle, as if it was all my mistake and I should not have been there to start with.
This is attitude, my friends! Attitude is defined as the mental state of individuals, which tends to act or respond or is ready to respond for or against objects, situations, etc with which their vested feelings or interests, liking, desire and so on are directly linked or associated. During the course of development, the person acquires tendencies to respond to objects. These learned cognitive mechanisms are called attitudes.
Our dilemma as human beings is that a significant number among us believe that we are always right and rarely make mistakes whatever the situation may be - no tolerance at all. Will it not be nice if a person, even if he did not want to give anything to another person, says no with a smile? What would be the response of an angry person if you countered him with a few calm words?
Tragedies happen when neither side wants to forgive or compromise and ends with a clash one way or another. A good number of people are now sensitive to being advised or told about something, even if it is for their benefit, and nothing will change until we change our approach to things. Let us be cooperative, forgiving and forgetting. We all live on the same soil, we breathe the same air and we walk under the same sun. We will face the same fate.
Allah says in the Holy Quran: “For each one are successive [angels] before and behind him who protect him by the decree of Allah. Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.” [13:11]
