Senate Sketches # 1050
NOTE: Sen. Hank Sanders has written a weekly column for papers in his legislative district for the past twenty years. These rural, weekly papers lack a web presence, and therefore a link to the publication is not available. The column below is provided by Sen. Sanders’ office for inclusion in the Daily News Digest.
Senate Sketches # 1050
By
Senator Hank Sanders
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“Son, your attitude will make or break you.” I had a terrible attitude so my mother’s words fell on deaf ears and closed heart. It took much time and painful experiences to learn the wisdom of her words. I eventually changed my attitude and transformed my life in the process.
My mother tried valiantly to explain the power of attitude saying, “Son, when you come upon an obstacle in your path it is either a curse or a challenge. As long as you think you cannot go around or through or over the obstacle, it is a curse. When you think you can overcome the obstacle, it becomes a challenge. The obstacle has not changed one bit but your attitude transforms the obstacle into a mere challenge.”
My mother tried to teach me that struggle is a special gift from God. I could not see that. Few of us see struggle as a gift. Most times the very thought of struggle repels us. It is certainly a gift wrapped unappealingly. My mother was right: each time we embrace our struggles, the gift is revealed.
Sometimes I do not want to struggle with something. I avoid it over and over. It weighs heavily on me. Finally, I am forced by circumstances to struggle with it. I make up my mind to do the best I can. I immediately discover that the task is not nearly as bad as I thought. Many times it is the exact opposite.
Let me share one particular illustration. When I was a student at Vaughn Jr. High School in Baldwin County, Alabama, I was a terrible child. I gave teachers pure hell. My teachers tried many ways to deal with me. One was not to call on me in class. They recognized that I liked to show how much I thought I knew. They were trying to change me. I thought they were trying to break me. I resisted with every fiber within my being.
Since my teachers would not call on me in class, I began looking forward to written tests. It was a way to show them how much I knew. Just the act of looking forward to written tests helped me to become very good at taking them. Tests became challenges, not curses. I embraced the struggle inherent in tests and the gift was revealed over and over again.
A specific example is in order. When I faced taking the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) in order to enter Law School, I actually anticipated it with pleasure. I was the only person I knew looking forward to this challenging test.
In spite of average intelligence, a limited educational background derived from segregated schools, and the extreme poverty of my big family, I scored near the 90th percentile in the country. I was admitted to Harvard Law School shortly after I applied. Just embracing the test transformed the moment and my future.
When the $6.8 billion Education Budget passed toward the end of the 2007 Regular Legislative Session, a Republican senator eased up to me and whispered, “You are just too damn nice!” I whispered back to him, “That makes it harder for you to attack me.” Quick as lightning, the words of 19th century Kentucky U. S. Senator Henry Clay eased into my consciousness. When asked why he was so nice to others, he said, “I have enough people against me based on positions I take. I do not need them against me based on the attitude I take.”
I feel the same way Senator Clay felt. That’s why over time, I transformed my need to show others how much I think I know. I learned that everyone knows something of value. If I listen, I will hear it even from the “least of these.” Then I will know what I know and what they know.
I want to share with you one of the most powerful statements about attitude that I have ever read. It is by Charles Swindoll, who said, “The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. To me, attitude is more powerful than failure, than success, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. Attitude will make or break a company, a church, a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday, regarding the attitude we will embrace that day.
We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude.
I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it. And so it is with you.”
My mother, with her seventh grade education, understood this just as well as Charles Swindoll, who has four doctorates and served as president of the Dallas Theological Seminary. I am so glad I learned to let my attitude help make me rather than break me. My mother was proud of my attitude as I grew older.
Now on to the Daily Diary.
Saturday - I worked on many matters including Sketches and shared lunch with Dr. James Mitchell, President of Wallace Community College. I talked with the following: Attorney J.L. Chestnut, Jr.; businessman Charles Jones, Jr. of Demopolis; Billy Atchison of Alabama Power; Victor Inge of the Selma Times Journal; and Consultant Rick Heartsill of Birmingham. I traveled to Montgomery to encourage a sick friend and returned to Selma.
Sunday - I did Radio Sunday School, Radio Education and Sunday Review. I participated in Sunday School and Church service. I had dinner with Fannie and Bobby McKenzie where education is always the issue of the moment. I worked deep into the night on various matters including Sketches.
Monday - I had breakfast with Selma businessman Mike Reynolds before traveling to Lowndes County and back to Selma. I talked to the following: Tammy Maul of Congressman Artur Davis’ Office; Senate President Pro Tem Hinton Mitchem; Tom Tsekoura of General Electric (GE); Senator Lowell Barron; Joyce Bigbee of the Legislative Fiscal Office (LFO); Senator Roger Bedford; Representative Yusuf Salaam; Senator E.B. McClain; Senator Quinton Ross; Carolyn Gaines-Varner of Selma; and Virginia Volker of the University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB). I left traveling to Birmingham to join others in a small meeting with Senator Barack Obama, but the truck broke down. I returned to Selma and worked into the night.
Tuesday - I traveled to Montgomery for a Senate Democratic Caucus meeting and returned to Selma. I talked to the following: Dr. Paul Hubbert of the Alabama Education Association (AEA); Senator E.B. McClain; Phillip Brookins of Mississippi; Edgar Callaway, a paramedic; Dallas County Probate Judge Kim Ballard; Sarah (Cookie) Jones of Selma; Montgomery Advertiser Reporter Al Benn; White Hall Mayor, John Jackson; Consultant Dr. Pat Battle of Washington, D. C.; and Tom Tsekoura of GE. I traveled to Greene County and returned to Selma to work into the night on various issues including a conference call.
Wednesday - I met over breakfast with Dr. James Mitchell, Faya Rose Toure’, and Rita Lett before traveling to Montgomery for a 10:00 a.m. meeting of the Community Service Grants Committee. I met with Sharon Calhoun on several issues before returning to Selma. I talked to the following: Perry County Commissioner Albert Turner; Probate Judge John Hulett of Lowndes County; Reverend Franklin Fortier of Selma; Ginger Avery Buckner of the Alabama Association for Justice; Jackie Thomas of the Lowndes County Commission; and Yvette Patterson of the Lowndes County Board of Education. I did the Radio Program Law Lessons and participated in several other meetings. I worked into the night.
Thursday - I worked on numerous issues and talked to many persons including the following: Charley Grimsley of the President Pro Tem’s Office; Dr. Carol P. Zippert of Twenty First Century Youth Leadership Project (21C); Jackie Ward and Ralph Paige of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives; Sheila Dewan of the New York Times; Norris Green of the Legislative Fiscal Office; Arlean Allen of Lowndes County; and Danielle Harper of 21C. I shared lunch with Dallas County Probate Judge Kim Ballard and City Council President George Evans. I traveled to Montgomery for a meeting with Dr. Paul Hubbert, Alabama Democratic Party Chair Joe Turnham and others. I stayed in Montgomery after working deep into the night.
Friday - I was still in Montgomery on Democratic Party matters. I shared breakfast with Dr. Paul Hubbert of AEA, Democratic Party Chair Joe Turnham, Dr. Pat Battle of Washington, D. C. and others. I returned to Selma and handled many matters including Sketches. I talked to the following: Senator Zeb Little; Senator E. B. McClain; Black Artists Lonnie Holley and Joe Minter; art investor E. T. Williams, Jr of New York; and Barbara Brown of Wilcox County. I also arose at 4:30 a.m. to continue working on my next book, The Gift of Struggle.
EPILOGUE - We work so hard trying to change others. We work so hard trying to change circumstances. It’s usually an impossible feat to change either. Yet, we rarely work on our attitude. When we change our attitude, we change the situation. A change of situation changes others as well as the circumstances.
Index of Sanders' Senate Sketches
A TRIBUTE TO ATTORNEY J. L. CHESTNUT
On Tuesday September 30, 2008 Attorney J.L. Chestnut, a beloved hero of the civil rights movement died. For myself and for every African American Lawyer in America, I want to thank Attorney Chestnut “Chess” for all he did to demonstrate to the world that African Americans can be great attorneys. I write these words of thanks for the splendid life he fashioned, the fantastic law firm he established, Chestnut, Sanders, Sanders & Pettaway and the happiness he achieved through his many accomplishments, and even more, through the wonderful family he reared in partnership with his beautiful wife Vivian.
I can still remember the first time I met Attorney Chestnut. I was with my former boss Carolyn Gaines-Varner the sister of Faya Ora Rose Toure. Carolyn introduced us and Attorney Chestnut said something so hilarious I bent over with laughter. He was good-humored. He was witty. He was charming. He was funnier than Chris Rock and more brilliant than Albert Einstein. I admired him greatly. He was truly the Dean of African American Lawyers in Alabama.
So much has been written about this great man in the last few days since his passing. So much so that there isn’t much left for me to write about that has not already been written. However I will try to add a few more thoughts about this great warrior.
Attorney Chestnut practiced law with “style”. He was a true artist and it was a joy for any member of the Alabama Bar to see him at work, showing off his skills and observing him encase even his most hostile barbs in the therapeutic of great humor. In Alabama and abroad Attorney Chestnut achieved reputation and distinction. He represented the great and the small with equal zeal.
He became Selma’s first black attorney in 1959, just five years after the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Brown v. Board of Education school desegregation decision. He would later become one of the most distinguished attorneys in America. He lived by the conviction that the law was a noble ministry, not just another occupation. In addition to carrying his large professional responsibilities, he did more than his share in the communal and philanthropic life of the Selma community.
With Attorney J.L. Chestnut now gone, I wonder if the Alabama State Bar will ever be the same. He was a Martin Luther King Jr., Thurgood Marshall and a Barack Obama all rolled up in one. He was an uncompromising giant unafraid to tackle controversial issues and fight injustice everywhere he found it. We will miss him greatly.
With love in my heart, with thanks for the memory of your greatness, I say Good night, my hero!
Greg Griffin is a free lance writer. You can read his previous articles by visiting his webpage at www.greggriffin.com
Comment by greg griffin sr. — October 5, 2008 @ 9:42 pm