Years ago, I was a wholesale meatcutter and a butcher.  I stood along a long moving conveyer belt that would bring pieces of meat that each cutter would in turn take off the belt and cut, slice, bone, separated into specific portions.  There were twelve of us six on a side doing this beef disassembly line.  We would work continuously for two hours, fifteen minutes then another two hours and take a half hour lunch.  Time worn meat dance would be repeated in the afternoon. We would continually talk and banter about the latest news of the world and our families, all the while soft music would play in the background to keep from going out of our minds.

As we approached quitting time we would look down the line of pieces of meat and know we had to get the conveyer belt empty before cleaning up.  If we would work real hard the boss would just add more big pieces of meat. 

One of my fellow butcher workman would, at the appropriate time would say under his breath “Twenty Degrees.”  He had his pilot license and he was referring to the attitude of the plane.  If you raised the nose of his little Cessna to twenty degrees above level, the plan would ultimately stall and fall out of the sky.  It was how we paced ourselves at the meat line became empty at the exact time when the clock said it was time to go home.

As he explained it to me, “In flight the attitude determines your altitude.” 

Your attitude determines your behavior.

Your attitudes determine our actions.