One Story • One Step • One Question. Three minutes.
One Story
What do you do when you lose your job, your fiancé, and your dog all in the same month? Well, you could write a country and western song. Or, you could tally up what all this took, and see if you have anything left to give. That’s what one of our volunteers from the Netherlands did. He had more in the tank and was ready to share it anywhere but the Netherlands. He needed a seat on a plane and a place to go where he was needed. After I spoke with him a couple of times, it was clear he needed a sense of purpose, a quiet project to work on, to regain his confidence, and to jump back into real life in the Netherlands.
I went to a good friend of mine in South Africa, who worked with injured animals. They, too, he told me, still had much to give and needed some tender, loving care. So we sent our Dutch volunteer to South Africa for a month. The project had a female lion who had been injured. She needed the same face each day and a gentle walk to strengthen a weak hip. And so twice each day, our volunteer walked his new charge down dirt roads in silence. It was hot and quiet, and as it turns out, healing for both.
The photo at the top of this post is our volunteer. I had the photo enlarged into a poster for our office. During a staff meeting, I told “their” story so each member of the team would see the poster and be reminded that we can always find a place to give more than we think we have. And in my 50+ years, I’ve learned that even more comes right back atcha. The best way to receive is to give.
One Step
Do the tally on paper. Draw two columns. On the left, write what the last year took from you. On the right, write what you still have: your hands, your hours, your patience. Then pick one thing from the right column and place it wherever it needs the same face again and again. That could be a dog walk at the shelter, a reading hour at the library, or a morning in a community garden. Every town on the map has one of these. Keep it quiet and keep it small. Confidence comes back in repetitions. Big decisions can wait.
One Question
When you tally what this year has taken, what small thing is still in your tank that you’ve been saving for a better day?
— Randy
I’ve spent fifty years in international education and cultural exchange. It’s a front-row seat to people changing careers, countries, and lives. If you’re putting together a panel, a podcast, or a story and want a voice from the field, just reply. Replies come straight to me, and I read every one.