Stir My Soul!

Why is it so hard to stay Focused on things we are Passionate about? I believe we are all given Vision as part of our humanity. We ALL have seen a compelling picture of a better tomorrow.

We get distracted so easily. So if you’re too busy or pre-occupied, WHO is going to fulfill that Vision you’ve seen? If not YOU, WHO will step up and live out this thing called COMPASSION?

We shake our heads when we reflect on the condition of this world- global terrorism, religious extremism, nuclear tension, HIV & AIDS, political corruption, pollution, natural disasters, ethnic tensions, hunger and illiteracy. (You can include ‘global warming’ but it’s freezing here in New Jersey).

Oh but what can I do about this stuff? I’m worried about paying for medical insurance and getting my retirement plan in place. My children and grandchildren take up so much time. I’m so distracted by all of the ‘opportunities’ that come my way. It’s hard work figuring out everyone’s ‘dramas’ going on around me. Gotta plan the next vacation and home improvement and party and how many inches my new flat screen will be.

Oh my God, this world is a flippin’ mess and I’m trying to ‘get mine’! I want my kids to be Compassionate and Caring and Loving and Honest and Unselfish but I can’t quite get there myself (if ya know what I mean).

The book ‘Compassion Fatigue’ quotes an often repeated statement- ‘In the news business, 1 dead fireman in Brooklyn is worth 5 English bobbies, who are worth 50 Arabs, who are worth 500 Africans.’ Our compassion for others seems to be directly correlated to whether people are close to us socially, emotionally, culturally, ethnically, economically or geographically.

One of my sons was killed in a car crash in 1987. It was a horrific time in my life. Everything was turned upside down. The pain penetrated the deepest places of my soul. I physically and emotionally grieved for a full year. For years I would cry every time the news of a child dying came to my attention.

But now? Now when I hear of another family’s tragedy I mutter ‘that’s sad’ to myself and move on. And when I hear that 26,575 children died today of largely preventable causes related to their poverty, I just shrug. But another 26,575 children will die tomorrow and the next day and the next. I guess I got a real bad case of Compassion Fatigue.

So okay I get the message- now what am I going to do? I got distracted from my Vision a few years ago by an opportunity and by family stuff. But now I’ve been called out by my Soul and I was reminded of something I wrote 13 years ago.

“It was January 17, 1997 and my wife, Lin, and I had been presenting our motivational school assemblies for the last three and a half years. It had been a typical day. We were in an elementary school in South Jersey. After two assemblies, which included feats of strength and inspirational stories, we had visited classrooms. During these class visits, we pump up reading and answer questions.

After visiting our last class and loading our equipment, we were just about ready to walk out when a group of students asked us for autographs. We are always honored by these requests. It was dismissal time and the group around us got larger and larger. Teachers were trying to drag kids away to get them to their buses. The whole scene was wild and we stayed until the last child had an autograph.

We had signed autographs many times before and since that day. The thing that dawned on us as we drove away brought tears to our eyes. Before that day, none of those kids had ever seen or heard of us before. After only a few hours, we had become heroes. If we had announced that there was a bus outside school and that anyone who wanted to could come home and live with us, I'll bet that the bus would be full.

Why? Not because we’re great. These kids were hungry for encouragement. We let every child know that they are special and unique and we believe it. We let them know that they have a special gift and we believe it. We let love come through us. We also let them know that it takes work to achieve great things. The major problem lies in the home environment. Lin and I adjusted our commitment to include not only kids but parents as well. Our hope is that every child would want to stay with their own family and maybe just come to visit ours.”

So I’m committing to being a huge source of encouragement to every young person I come across until the day I die. I know now how to avoid the traps that would try to derail my Vision. I will learn how to reject rejection and do my best to build a more Compassionate World.

What about you? Are you part of the solution? Are you comfortable with your level of contribution to a better tomorrow for those other than your immediate family? Are we actually searching for the TRUTH? or are we trying to make up our own?

If you are old and tired, or lazy, or in need of motivation, Dr. David has a solution. Just cry out ‘God!!!! Fire me up again!!!’

As my friend David DeNotaris always says, “Make it a Great Day”...bye4now...

Your friend (iC),
Russell Jones