A narrow-minded person is one who only sees situations and people for what they are here and now. These people don’t see possibility and hope. They ignore God’s ability to deliver us from our circumstances and turn us into something great. They don’t believe that your dreams can come true. They don’t believe in living an impossible life. 

These people may be in your family or close circle of friends. When I was about thirteen years old, I had someone close to me tell me that I was stupid. She would tell me this every day and she would say it with such conviction. At that time in my life, I was doing stupid things and the situation only got worse. I started to believe her. I would quit before I even tried to take tests and exams at school and my grades started to go down. 

Your actions are not who you are. I was doing stupid things, but doing stupid things does not make me stupid. 

I went on believing I was stupid until I got to high school and met my economics teacher, Mr. Hayward. He had faith in my ability to learn and this was demonstrated through his actions. He was determined to have me pass a major state-wide economics exam and he would stay after school to teach me what I needed to know to succeed. He did not believe that I was stupid. He showed me that I was more than capable of learning and doing well. 

I took that exam and my score was the highest in my school for advanced placement economics. It’s a field of study that I pay close attention to even today. 

The narrow-minded opinion of someone close to me was my reality once but I now know that I define my reality. I define who I am and I will never allow narrow-minded people to tell me who and what I am. 

Terrance Thomas