Bryan Dubois
Attitude in life will carry you a long way. Growing up with a father in the Navy I learned a lot in the short 18 years he was in my life. He grew up on a farm as a sharecropper in Dillon, SC. His family was by no means rich but growing up in that environment he learned to make the best of what he had. He went into the navy at the age of 17 and entered the Submarine force. He instilled in me as a young man that your attitude and willingness to figure things out would carry you through any situation. The answer is always there you just must look at the problem and never give up. He was a Machinist Mate on a submarine, when things broke the rest of the crew was counting on him to keep the boat moving. Sometimes it was life or death. When the boat was underway it was not like you could just pull over and go to the store. He was always improvising. I remember one time when I was around 8 years old that we were going fishing in our boat, it broke down and my dad figured out the fuel line had ruptured. Well, he got us over to the bank and hopped out on shore. He looked around then just went walking off. I’m watching and thinking we’re not going out in the boat today. Well, that was so far from the truth!
He comes walking back about 20 minutes later with a straw, he rummages around in the boat and finds a roll of electrical tape. He then pulls out his pocket knife cuts the hose and splices it back together and off we go. The whole time he never even changed his demeanor. He was more like this is just another challenge. As a young man, little did I know that he was teaching me how to figure things out. I learned so much from him, I think that is where I got my ability to be a MacGyver of sorts.
Looking back on my life I will say I had a great foundation that set me up for success. He, unfortunately, passed away just after my 18th Birthday. When I look back on my life, I do not think I would change a thing. If I did, I may not have been afforded the opportunity to be working here with all the fine people at Sherpa Air. I once saw a button that was given out at some training I attended for Blanchard Caterpillar and it said, “Attitudes are Contagious is Yours Worth catching”! This is so true. we all have those bad days but if you can promote a good attitude and make someone smile, that’s a good day in my book.
I always try to find the best in every situation and laughter always seems to be the best medicine. Jimmy Buffet sums it up best, “if we couldn’t laugh, we would all go insane.”
The best saying I have ever heard about attitude is by Bob Bitchen, “The difference between an adventure and an ordeal is attitude!”