“Think Cool and You’ll Be Cool”- CLeomi E. Woods

In life, there are certain sayings that stick with a person for a long time, even if in the moment those sayings seem to make very little sense. Our high school auditorium was notoriously hot and one of the things that our principal would say to us to try to offer some solace was, “think cool and you’ll be cool.” We all thought it was such nebulous information, because there was no way that in The Bahamas, in the middle of summer, in 98 degree weather that we could be cool just by thinking it so.

As I grew older, I began to reflect and realize that our principal wasn’t really focused on the temperature, but on our response to it. Mrs. Woods was teaching us a very valuable lesson that we would not grasp as young teenagers, but hopefully would accept the significance of that message when we grew older. She was teaching us to stay calm in the midst of a tough situation. To think cool in the heat was to “accept the things we could not change, to change the things we could, and to have the wisdom to know the difference.”

I’ve learned recently of the passing of Mrs. Woods. I don’t remember much else of what she said while I was in high school but I am grateful to her for helping me to reconcile with the fact that there is always a choice in how we respond to challenging circumstances. 

If we try hard enough, we can find peace of mind in the midst of turmoil. We can be slow to anger and quick to love. We can be the cool breeze in a hot auditorium. 

I know that it’s true, because there are people who have come before us who have endured much worse and it’s because of their resilience, their strong minds, that we are here.

So, in the words of our beloved principal, “think cool and you’ll be cool.” 

Rest In Peace, Mrs. Woods.