Turning A Handicap Into Strength

This person works in a 5 star hotel in Chennai.
I will call him S.

S was born with a cleft lip. Otherwise he is quite normal in every other way. Now he's in his 40s.
He's married and has two sons who go to school. He's quite well off and handles the business centre of the hotel which means constant interaction with guests all the time for secretarial services.

20 years back, I remember reading an advertisement in the newspapers about helping such people correct it with surgery. I think it was 'Smile Train' or something similar to that.

Promptly I remembered S and called and asked him to check the details.
What he said truly astounded me. He said he wanted to retain what God gave him since birth. People remember him with the cleft than they would, a normal person without any visible defect. He is recognized and remembered more due to this in his organization.

That's such a nice way to look at a defect. This positive attitude must be giving him a lot of inner peace and happiness too. Acceptance of any situation is also an attitude. Living with a birth defect is being brave about it.

That day I learnt something precious in life, thanks to S.

Cheers!
Mahalakshmi