Reason For Being

"Really believe in your heart of hearts that your fundamental purpose, the reason for being, is to enlarge the lives of others. Your life will be enlarged also. And all of the other things we have been taught to concentrate on will take care of themselves."  (Pete Thigpen, Executive Reserves)

I recently read a story about a young child who suffered from polio. His journey began in August 1943 when he was nine years old. In the hospital, he met a nurse named Susan. Nurse Susan spent a lot of time working with the boy, caring for his needs and encouraging his heart because all he could see was the ceiling. He said her message was simple: "Your future ... is hidden on the ceiling, and you can find it if you look very hard. Look for what you will be doing as you grow up. It's all up there ... all you have to do is to study the ceiling. When you see your future it will start to happen."

Nurse Susan encouraged his imagination by putting pictures on the ceiling. She taught him to play checkers and chess by projecting a game board on the ceiling. When he found that he could wiggle his toes, she rigged a bell that he could ring with his toes. As he made progress Susan created more things for him to do.

The young boy survived his encounter with polio. He went on to become the president of the Hudson Institute as well as the founding president of the Fielding Institute. His name is Frederic M. Hudson.

As impressive as Mr. Hudson's resume may be, I would really like to have met nurse Susan. She must have been an extraordinary person to inspire a nine year old boy to fight and overcome polio and dream of what he might become.

I just completed about 20 hours of interviews with an incredible group of people. They are the teachers and staff at my school. In those conversations and in subsequent chats, I was reminded how much they love what they do. They are the "nurse Susan's" in their sphere of influence!

Teachers = Encourager's of the Heart!

Encourage someone to dream of what they might become!

(The story about Frederic Hudson is from 'Credibility' by J. M. Kouzes and B. Z. Posner)