For 2026 — Make Your Mind Set A Friend

Entering the office, Natalie Johnson asked Denise Pratt, one of the managers, after scanning the long list of workers who refused to work in her department, “How did you come to your decision?”

“They are minorities, uneducated, stupid, and are immigrants,” was her callous response, easing back into her comfortable leather armchair.

“But you are an immigrant too, and are from the same country some of them are from,” Natalie reminds her.

“I upgraded myself, and I’m better than them,” she bragged.

“You aren’t really better than them,” Natalie shoved in, nodding. “A better position, yes, because of your education and status here.”

“I am still better than them because I am up here and they are down there, and I can see all of their stupidness,” her cruel heart said.

“So, they can’t see yours?” Natalie’s anger edged closer to the surface.

“Which side are you on?” she screamed, easing from around her desk to face Natalie.

Natalie smiled as her heart sent her back to the hell she endured under her management until she earned her master’s degree and was promoted.

“I am on the side of justice and equality. I was raised to treat others as I want them to treat me,” she recalls her parents’ words.

“Do unto others as you would have done to you, crap!” she shot back.

“They are humans, no matter where they come from, who they are, or what they do; they have a right to be treated with dignity and respect,” Natalie defends.

“To hell with them!” she screamed. “They are replaceable!”

“We are not replacing them!” Natalie fired back.

She grinned and reminded, “You don’t have the authority!”

“I don’t need it,” Natalie notified her. “They have been here longer than you have. So, minority or not, their service is vital to this company, and many of them have given a lot of productive years to The Wellington Corporation that has kept us at the top of the business world.”

“What are you saying?” she screamed again.

Natalie signaled her as she eased towards the large rectangular-shaped window to the right of her office. She obeyed unwillingly.

“Look at that tree below?” Natalie points to a vast and massive root embedded in the ground around the concrete.

“Focus on the massive root and how it keeps the rest of the tree majestic and powerful,” she instructed. “Don’t worry about the garbage, that’s food, and it’s many challenges.”

“Then move your imagination and heart to the top,” Natalie continued, staring at her and reading her reaction. “The people whose lives and living that you are making impossible with your way of thinking control the root of that massive tree. We are at the top. Not everyone is replaceable, because they don’t work only from what they were hired for.”

Her eye popped, and Natalie used her words to expand them more, “They work from their hearts, minds, souls, and good intentions from a place where love, happiness, and positivity live. Roots feed trees. Root sustains it and keeps it alive. Everything at the top came from how the bottom lives and functions. They do a damn good job of keeping this company on the path we want it to take us, allowing your dreams and hundreds of other dreams to come true. Do you think the President is going to replace forty workers? Root workers, find money to retrain others because one employee thinks they are nothing!”

P.S. Immigrants are Root Workers. I was one of them.

She gasped, struggling to breathe. Natalie assisted her back to her seat as she glared at her in realization mixed with rage.

“It’s more economical and sensible to let you go. Competent businesses respect and honor root workers. You’re from the Caribbean, you know that if you kill the root, the tree dies. Where did you get that kind of destructive mentality from? How did your thinking become your enemy?” Natalie demands in anger.

“Nothing is wrong with my thinking!” she defends.

“You are using it as a weapon to destroy root workers. You can’t do their jobs because you cannot get to their level. They or their children can go to school, reach your level, and take your job away.

Silence roared, and Natalie nailed in more, “After they read my report, they will let you go. Don’t allow your thinking to be your enemy. Failure will accompany it. Make your thinking your friend, it will lead you to success.”

Denise huffed and puffed as Natalie stared at her.

“There is nothing wrong with my thinking. I am more educated than all of them,” she vents.

“You can’t do their jobs, and right now, they can’t do yours. What they know, life taught them because of their life. Same for you. Here, it’s not about who is better than whom. It’s about learning from and helping each other with our knowledge, and together, we make the world a better place for everyone. What the hell is wrong with that?” Natalie demands again.

“I guess we all can’t be the same,” she said, shrugging her shoulders.

“There is a place for every human on this earth,” Natalie’s frustration informed her.

“Well, they need to know theirs, and it’s not here with me.”

Tony Longhorn, the VP, was behind the half-opened door, listening to their conversation, and knocked, interrupting them. He entered and said quickly as they stared at him.

His eyes on Denise, he agreed, “You are right.”

“I told her I was right,” Denise said, smiling.

Natalie smiled, seeing the trap.

“Their place isn’t with you, because your place is no longer here!”

Trees have roots that anchor and sustain them, helping them survive and do their jobs. Humans’ roots are what life taught them, giving them the power to live and survive. How we think can heal or harm us. It can also hinder or help us. That will enable our mindset to be a friend or a foe.

Friends help, foes hinder. Friends can heal. Foes will harm.

What does your thinking do for you?

For 2026 — Make your thinking your friend!

Thank you for reading this piece. I hope you enjoyed it.