Attitude is a Choice

I came across this quote this week.  

Viktor Frankl– Man’s Search for Meaning

"We who live in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread.  They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken away from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way."

Could we choose to be an encourager in desperate circumstances?  Would we give away our last morsels of bread?  And then, I think, would we only do that in the most heroic of circumstances?  Or could we do that in a thousand small ways?  Could we do it for people who could offer nothing in return?  

I have been reading about Robert Moses (The Power Broker), who transformed the landscape of Long Island in the 1920's and '30's.  He accomplished great things, but he walked on the powerless in order to accomplish his objectives.  It has made me wonder about our dreams, our ambition.  How does one get their hopes and dreams realized?  I am sure that RM chose his attitude.  I would characterize it as an arrogant attitude, especially in certain seasons of his life.  Others might say he was singleminded, fearless, indomitable. 

When you choose your attitude, and I suspect that we all do, what will it be?