Thoughts can change your destiny

Thoughts shape our attitudes. Attitudes mould our character. Character determines our destiny. By changing our thought patterns, we can change our destiny

Thought is a tremendous force in the life of every individual. Thoughts shape our attitudes. Attitudes mould our character. Character determines our destiny. By changing our thought patterns, we can change our destiny.

The story of Dick Whittington and his cat is the subject of cartoons, fairy tales and pantomime shows which are very popular with children. But, modern scholarship has established that the character of Dick was in fact based on a real-life man. It is a story that emphasises the truth that if you change your thoughts, you can change your life.

As the story tells us, Dick was a poor lad from Gloucestershire, who dreamt of ‘making it big’. He heard people tell him of London, which they described as a city where a man could make or mar his fortune. The streets of London were paved with gold, they said to him. And so, with stars in his eyes and dreams in his heart, Dick set out for London.

Alas, the reality of London was very different from the dreams that he had been told! London was a dirty, plague-infested city, where the pavements were filthy and strewn with garbage as well as the sick and dying poor. Unable to survive, a starving Dick fainted outside the house of a London merchant, Fitzwarren, who took pity on him and employed him as a servant.

So, Dick had food to eat and a roof over his head, but the basement of the Fitzwarren house where he slept with other servants was infested with rats. Determined to stay on in the city which could make or mar his fortune, Dick bought a cat with the first salary he was given—the princely sum of one penny! The cat was a boon to him and his fellow servants; it singlehandedly put an end to the rats in the basement, making life just a little tolerable for Dick and his mates.

Dick continued to work hard for his master, whom he saw not only as a saviour but also as a role model. When Mr Fitzwarren bought his own ship for overseas trading, he invited his servants to send anything which they wished to sell on board the ship, as it set out on its first voyage. Dick had nothing to sell except his only possession, the cat; the cat was put onboard as the ‘item’ to be sold on Mr Whittington’s behalf.

Now, there arose a new villain, who made Dick’s life miserable; this was Mr Fitzwarren’s cook, who was cruel and evil, and took sadistic pleasure in torturing and punishing Dick. Unable to take it any longer, Dick decided to run away from London. Nursing the wounds of his broken dreams and hopes he was leaving the city, defeated and miserable when the famous Bow Bells of London rang out. They seemed to recapture the magic of his early dreams. They seemed to call out to him, “Come back, Dick Whittington, thrice to-be Lord Mayor of London!”

Dick wiped away his tears and returned with a newfound determination to the city. He braved the insults and the misery; he overcame troubles and problems. When Mr Fitzwarren’s ship returned from its maiden voyage, the captain reported that Dick’s cat had been sold for a small fortune to an eastern king whose palace had been infested with rats. Dick took the money and requested his master to teach him the fine art of being a successful trader. Mightily pleased by the young lad’s trust in him, Mr Fitzwarren took the boy under his wings and taught him all the ‘tricks of the trade’ to make him a successful businessman. He also gave his daughter Alice in marriage to the smart young man who had sought refuge with him as an orphan.

The prophecy of the Bow Bells proved right; as a flourishing trader, Dick rose to become a Councillor and eventually was elected as the Lord Mayor of the City of London. He occupied this august office for a record three times, becoming an aspirational icon for all determined young men whose dream was to make it big!

As we saw, Dick’s character as a folk-tale figure was based on the life of Sir Richard Whittington, a philanthropist, trader and mayor of London. Sir Richard Whittington was four times Lord Mayor of London, and also became a Member of Parliament and a sheriff of London. He too, like Dick, married an heiress, but being childless, he bequeathed his enormous fortune to form the Charity of Sir Richard Whittington, which continues to assist people in need.

The Whittington Hospital at Archway in the London Borough of Islington and a small statue of a cat along with Highgate Hill further commemorate this legendary figure.