Wednesday, April 12, 2006

The Las Vegas Adventure

04/12/2006

I need to write this, so stay tuned.  I am on vacation this week and getting ready for some guests from out of town who will grace my doorstep tomorrow afternoon, and stay for the weekend.  Too, busy to post right now. 

Monday, April 03, 2006

Making A Difference

04/03/2006

Have you read Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom?  If not, you need to read it.  This little book’s message exercises the tears ducts very well.  It may take you a couple of hours, but it can be read in one sitting.  It is about a man and a journey he takes moments after his own untimely demise and the people he meets along the way.

Most people I know want to make a significant difference while taking up space on this planet, a real difference in someone’s life – a child, a relative, a student, a friend or co-worker.  Five People You Meet in Heaven is a story about how it can happen, even when we really don’t know it occurred, an unconscious act.  There are instances, no doubt, where we can make a difference without ever knowing about it.  If you think about it, it could go either way – good or bad.

Case in point…

Debbie passed away just a couple of weeks ago.  I didn’t know her, at least not very well. I don’t even know how to spell her last name.  She was more of the acquaintance variety, someone I met, briefly interacted with, and waved goodbye out of my life.  We did a workshop together in Dallas, actually two of them.  Debbie was odd…she had an odd look about her; she constantly made an odd movement with her lips, almost as if she was chewing on them.  Her hair was extremely thin and ragged looking, and caused her round face to look larger than it was.  Her breath, if you got close to her face, had a peculiar smell to it…it was bad.  She was reticent to a fault, and when she did speak she didn’t have a lot to say.  Debbie was a diabetic and this is what ultimately took her life.  I believe she may have been about forty, certainly not much older.

I didn’t take the time to get to know her.  I have no idea if she worked or what she may have done to earn a living.  I don’t know if she had family, or friends, or a spiritual side.  Debbie was complicated.  She wasn’t cool.  She wasn’t hip.  She wasn’t a fit for me and my world.  I had not seen nor had I spoken to her since December 5, 2004.  I know the last interaction we had was a perfunctory hug that evening. The workshop was over and we parted ways.  The opportunity for me to make a difference in her life was thrown away, and I was the one who threw it.  I lost out on what could have been an endearing moment for me.  I made a conscious decision and now I regret it.

Debbie was real.  She had wants and dreams, up and downs.  She was an artist.  On the day I heard of her untimely passing, I was hit with a wave of emotion.  And, it caused me to pause.  I can see her now as clearly as I can see this keyboard.  Perhaps Debbie will be one of the “five” I get to meet?  I may not have made a difference in her life, but she has certainly made one in mine.

I am sifting through my memory thinking of all those people with whom I have thrown away my chance to really know.  There is still time to make my difference…but as a very sagacious man I know has told me a few times, “Talk does not cook rice!”

Ponder that…