HeatherO

If a 13 Year Old Can Make a Difference, Can You?

HeatherO on 03 28, 2009

I received this via Facebook this morning and thought that it was just a great little story worth posting.

A simple reminder that we can ALL make a difference!

So many people feel like they are stuck in “lack” or “scarcity” and have “nothing to give”.  We ALL have something! Even if it’s just a simple word of encouragement!

Good Morning Gratituders!
I came across this quote earlier this week and wanted to share:

“Look to the present. The great disease of ‘I will be happy
when …’ is sweeping the world. You know the symptoms.
You start thinking: I’ll be happy when I get that … BMW …
promotion … status … money. The only way to cure the
disease is to find happiness and meaning now.”
~ Marshall Goldsmith: a world authority in management

Hhhmmm….does this sound familiar? Know anyone like this? As most of you know, happiness comes first. What if we ALL, not just you guys in this group, but ALL of us just flipped our internal switch and chose to be happy and grateful, putting others first in our focus? People would stop fearing for their jobs. Companies would stop laying people off and continue with a ‘growth mindset’. Consumer confidence would rise and hence increase spending. Of course, then, the stock market would go up and everything would be ‘perfect’. Maybe those mortgage companies would think about their clients’ adjusting mortgages and not their executive bonuses. I know. I’m corny. I actually believe this could happen. It’s a simple choice. What if we ALL just decided today? yikes..

Let me leave you with this story. Whether you are Christian, spiritual, or not, there’s levels to this that apply to ALL of us. I have a family member that began to put Bible verses is her son’s lunch bag every day. Over time, she noticed he became more and more enthusiastic about these verses. “I need a powerful message today mom!” What? As is turns out, not only was he reading them for himself, but was sharing with his lunch table. Now, these are 12 and 13 yr old kids. Very soon, the word got around that he was doing this and other children from the lunch room would come by his table and encourage him to actually ‘preach’. Think about this. A 13yr old boy that could be focused on girls and gameboys is choosing to teach others about all the good. I could not have been more proud of this young man. I was almost speechless(believe me, takes a lot). This just fired me up to become more and more focused on making a difference and setting a good example for our future generations. Even within all of this ‘crap’, this child is choosing to rise above. What’s our excuse? Share the good. Share this group with people. Reach out to someone you have not spoken to in a while and find out how they are doing. You CAN make a difference.

Let’s go make a difference together,
Paul Patricelli

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