Archive for April, 2009
“Small Miracles of Daily Life”
Two days ago, Paulo Coelho sent me a note of “congratulations and success” on my new book. He happens to be an author I hold in high regard and who has inspired much of my writing.
I was overwhelmed–truly I was.
Coelho has authored numerous books, but the one that captured my heart was The Alchemist. It was given to me by a dear friend who felt it to be important for me to read. Now, I recommend it to all. It is a story of believing in yourself and following your dream.
Last December Coelho responded to an e-mail message I sent him. With his reply he sent me a copy of a story that he wrote that was published in many journals around the world. I was overwhlemed at his gift to me. His generous action and the simplicity, and power, of his story inspired me to write, Blessing the Poor. My holiday story may be found on my December 2008 blog. The book given to me by my friend years ago, and Coelho’s recent act, are testaments of why I believe the way I do; we must take time and value each moment of our life. But then, we need to do more–to inspire others to reach for what is good. Not only should we dream, and we should dream, but it is what we do with our experiences that counts.
In his message of two days ago, Coelho ended by telling me, “The Warrior of light concentrates on the small miracles of daily life.”
Truth is truth.
Posted on Saturday, April 18th, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Offering a Hand
I was with my wife, Kristin, and my twin eight year old girls today at the county dump. Well, you can get free mulch there–can you blame me? Four kids on my salary? Anyway, we loaded several huge unwieldy plastic barrels of free, but high quality mulch, and I had to somehow get my arms around each and lift them three feet up and into our mini-van. So I squatted using my legs, not my back, to lift each barrel. As my arms reached around the first barrel there was nothing to cling to. In my head I was searching for an answer on how to do this or maybe even a miracle– well, maybe not a miracle but maybe an adrenalin rush like I never experienced before.
Just then, I heard a voice next to me. “Need some help?” These barrels were heavy, I mean h-e-a-v-y. Simple words, I thought, for a not so simple task.
I turned and saw a man about my age– but I’m bad with ages– and said, “Sure, if you don’t mind.” I had done this thing before but thought this was not the time to be so proud.
We all need some help sometime.
This stranger helped me lift, with ease, all the barrels. It was that simple. When done, we simultaneously stuck out our hands and we introduced ourselves. Oh, I then said, “thanks so much; have a great day.” Well….
Anthony drove away as did we.
I’ll never see him again, but he left an indelible imprint on my mind. Yes, people have reached out to me in the past, and I have to them. But for some reason, this event seemed to truly resonate. It felt like I was being rewarded for something and maybe, in some way I was. But maybe not. Maybe this was an action that was to remind me about the kindness of others and maybe I was long overdue. For whatever reason, I was awed. He did not know my religion, my politics nor my mental wellbeing, but he offered a hand. A hand to help. Don’t we all need that–sometime?
Anthony inspired me and it is as simple as that. Now I want to inspire others in the same way.
Thanks, Anthony.
Posted on Friday, April 10th, 2009 | No Comments »
