23rd October 2008

I Like to Think I Serve a Greater Purpose Every Single Damn Day

I can remember working at Baker & Hostetler, a great corporate law firm that helped me get through college, nearly 20 years ago.  I remember coming in on Mondays, talking about the weekend with a female co-worker, and as we recapped, the young woman told me I inspired her to do more.  This happened for years.  I worked there for five years from 1990-1995.  This woman made some forward progress in her life, but she was one to complain a lot.  She felt trapped at times, like she was not moving forward in any way.  I told her to stop complaining and do something about it - change - be a change driver.  Don’t just sit there and put up with it.

It’s easy to say this on the outside to someone.  When people are trapped in negative situations, they tend to get stuck - really stuck.  You can try to pull some people out, offering a helping hand, but others well, they either want to get sucked under, or they’re so far gone, nothing you do is going to rescue them.  I’ve often spent time trying to rescue others, including as you know many four-legged animals.  I remember my pastor saying something about missionary dating by some women who hope/wish/pray to change their man into something he’s never going to be.  We date the ideal of that person, not the reality.  I did that too, for a long time. 

But over the years, for some reason, many would tell me that I motivated them to change, or inspired them to work harder.  I’ve also been loved/hated for this as well.  Because some people don’t like it when you challenge them to work harder, or think smarter, or make better/wiser decisions.  That applies to employees, students, boyfriends, female friends, people you don’t even know.  But at that end of the day, I like to “think” I’ve served a greater purpose.  I like to think I’ve always been honest, or certainly tried to be.  I like to think I’ve helped someone, or a company, do something bigger and better.

I’ve had my own share of screw-ups, don’t get me wrong.  I have days where with insomnia, I’m catching up on sleep in the mornings, and I feel guilty for not doing the typical 8-6 p.m. day.  Somedays I feel that I’ve accomplished nothing.  Some days, I want to be lazy, and immerse my brain in wanderlust of stupid TV, watching someone else’s fictional life, just so I could forget my own.  But in general, I snap out of those phases, and jump back into serving a purpose.  I have been criticized by many for always fighting for something bigger, often un-doable, impossible, in many people’s eyes.  My family, my parents, my mom especially, would be the leader in this race of my doing something extraordinary would be rebundled as something stupid, un-wise, foolish, destined to fail, you name it.  The irony of failure is for some it kills us (not literally, I hope), for others it slows us down temporarily or for a while longer, for others it makes us fight that much harder.

So how does this relate to Sarah Palin?

If we can be wise about society, about people, we can see further than what is written about a person in black and white.  But what I am amazed about is the rings of emails that fly over hating Sarah Palin.  Personally, I do not care about agreeing with her or McCain, or Obama or Biden on every single little detail in their lives or accomplishments or failures.  I know that it has got to be very hard for a politician to put their neck out in the public eye so that we can all try to tear them down in some way.  We have a growing group of people that hate Obama.  We have some who think McCain is an idiot, or erratic, or whatever, blah blah blah.  But the emails that get forwarded to me about hating Sarah Palin amaze me.

We may not like everything that Sarah Palin has done - myself included.  I personally may think she wasn’t so good in the Katie Couric interview - that I’m not in agreement on polar bears and Sarah, or drilling and Sarah, or blah blah blah.  But you know, I’d say that already that woman has accomplished far more than any of her mainstream American criticizers will ever accomplish in their lives.  Yet, some of you stand there criticizing, feeding on the frenzy of negative energy, and distributing it further amongst others. 

I might ask each of you who belong to some hate-mongering group - whether it’s some against Sarah Palin, or Obama for that matter, or anyone - or perhaps 10 of the OSU students who love to write about how they hate me - if I spent the time that you do, spreading this negative energy, I would have never accomplished in life what I have, nor would I have the energy to dream up my next accomplishment.

There are so many people in this world that need help.  Perhaps you do.  There are some of us that choose to serve a greater purpose in life, to accomplish things, to put their necks on a public chopping block, to allow themselves to be criticized just so they can serve a greater purpose.  It’s nearly biblical what others choose to do - they choose to sit back and do nothing but spread negative energy, hate, and I ask you what good comes of that?

I remember a person in my life who told me after I tested positive for morphine at AEP (www.aep.com) as a result of eating some good ol’ healthy poppy seed bread from the Farmer’s North Market in downtown Columbus, and I had lost my job, been walked out of the building in front of my peers - after we were able to prove what had caused the false negative - he said to me, “Laura, some people would have been ruined emotionally by this - they would have lost it - possibly permanently - but you, for some reason, you keep on kicking.” 

There are many things I see everyday I could do better.  Some I choose to avoid.  Like cleaning out my car, or balancing my checkbook, or putting everything back the way it belongs.  I feel guilty when I don’t accomplish something in a given day.  I see others who serve such a greater purpose than me every day, and I wish I could be more like them.  But I know many who serve no purpose at all almost every day - other than to obsess over something negative.

I encourage you to do something better, positive, bigger than you - help someone else out today - and get off your ass now and do something about it.  Go help your neighbor, go rescue some poor cat or dog, go feed a homeless person, go walk your dog, go organize something, clean out something, plant a perennial that serves you and others year after year, cook something and take it to someone, or just take care of you, your mind, your body, your spirit.

And if this hasn’t motivated you, just resend this blog to me on the day I’m feeling worthless, or like I’ve not done enough.  That way, I can remember my own speech here.

G’night.  I have some work to do.

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