Friday Reflections

Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records.

POINT TO PONDER

Adversity is like a strong wind. It tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that we see ourselves as we really are.

                                                                     -Arthur Golden

STORYLINE

The New Year is upon us and in looking forward to 2012 we here at Friday Reflections wanted to get the year started right. In the spirit of following your own path, I've compiled some stories and random bits from people that did extraordinary things in 2011:

• At one hundred years old, Fauja Singh of Britain, became the oldest person to complete a full 26 mile marathon in Toronto, Canada.

• Rob Summers, a former collegiate baseball player who played on the winning team of the 2006 College World Series, was paralyzed from the chest down after being hit by a car in, coincidentally, 2006. After four years of not being able to move, doctors implanted 16 electrodes into his damaged spinal cord. He trained daily, putting in countless hours to rehabilitate and Rob now is able to stand, walk independently, and has regained control of his bladder, bowel, and blood pressure functions.

• After learning that coastal forests in North Carolina were being cut down to provide packaging for KFC and McDonalds, eight year old student Cole Rasenberger convinced everyone at his school - 2,250 in total - to write postcards to McDonalds encouraging the company to change their packaging choices. All 2,250 postcards were sent to McDonalds and a short time after receiving the postcards, McDonalds announced it was switching to 100 percent recycled paper bags. Cole's next target is KFC and he's already rallied 6,000 to write postcards and hand delivered them to the KFC headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky.

• Susanne Janson lost her two daughters (fourteen years and twelve years old) and her ex-husband to the Tsunami that ravaged the coasts of Thailand in 2004. Heartbroken and unable to return to work as an advertising executive, Janson instead decided to stay in Thailand. She had heard a young couple were opening an orphanage in Phuket to take in children who had lost their parents in the disaster. Janson decided to help and today the orphanage houses 24 children, mothers, and grandparents affected by the tsunami. This past June, Janson hit a milestone: Fame, a teenage boy living in the orphanage will be heading to college. A huge feat in the poverty striken area in which she now lives. Janson says, “"My daughters loved their life. And I wanted to show them that I would survive this. And if (I) could help my new children to love their lives, at least one good thing came out of this."

  
  

REFLECTION by Rajiv Shah

2011 has been a monumental year. Natural disaster would strike as we all know - Japan would be rocked by an 8.9 earthquake in March and subsequent tsunami while Turkey dealt with a 7.2 magnitude quake of their own in October.

    2011 saw the death of technological giant Steve Jobs.

    January found Egyptian President Mubarak step down from power, a harbinger of the upheavals that would follow in Libya and Syria. On a smaller scale citizens at home followed suit as Occupy protesters took to US streets to voice their displeasure with the current state of the US economy. Elsewhere in the world, similar protests were being staged as Greece's prime minister stepped down from power amidst the European economic crisis.

    2011 was a year where the world saw much tension, unrest, and ultimately, change. And one hopes that from this change will come growth, a new way to live and prosper.  Amidst it all, good was forged on large and small scales, by people like the ones in this friday reflection, people not so different than you and me. Each one faced adversity and found a way to persevere. Tension is essential, it is a place where we are forced to stretch, to challenge, to find a new way, and to blossom. For from a crack in the earth a flower finds a way to grow.

    I do hope the experiences retold in this friday reflection inspire you to create your own stories in 2012, to continue walking your path and blazing your own trails. 

 

 

 

 

Tis the Season...

POINT TO PONDER

We have flown the air like birds and swum the sea like fishes, but have yet to learn the simple act of walking the earth like brothers.

                                                        - Martin Luther King Jr.

 

STORYLINE

Every holiday season I think of an incident I witnessed a few years back during the days leading up to Christmas. I was sitting with my family having dinner at our favorite pizza spot.

    A ding from the door's bell alerted the room that another customer had arrived, actually two. I looked up midway through my third slice and caught sight of a young man, college age, fresh faced, and full of life. He stepped in and turned back to hold the door open and behind him as an older man walked in, hunched over, his clothes more like tattered blankets, stripped, and draped over his bony shoulders. His took the first step in, his once white sneakers covered in black soot, and passed in through the doorway. He looked up at the room, his beard cascading carelessly from his blunted chin as his eyes darted apologetically beneath his heavy brows. The young man ushered him in as customers from other tables started to catch sight of the two men.

    As they stepped up to the counter the murmuring picked up. Eyes looked up at them and then shifted away. A lady in the booth adjacent to ours looked at the two and turned to her family and said, “that's disgusting.” The young man and the homeless man put in their order and made their way through the restaurant trying to find a place to settle down for their meal.

    As they made their way through, couples tensed as they neared their table, families relaxed as they passed by, and finally they found a booth they liked and sat down. They had managed to find the one booth right next to the lady who had made it clear she was disgusted by the homeless man's presence. She gasped audibly when they sat down.

    The young man looked up at her and said, “he's a human being too, he needs to eat just like we do.”

    Promptly, the lady got up with her family to leave, “take the booth, I've lost my appetite.”

REFLECTION

What's your end of the year reflection?

 

 

Pay me now, or Pay Me Later (Part 2)

Point to Ponder: 

“Find me the best person for the job, the second best is too expensive.”

 

Story Line:

A week ago, a friend I respect told me a story that was not only deep in meaning but also very funny. He had a tree in his front yard which had grown very tall. Having decided to remove it, he called two different people specializing in tree removal. 

    

    The first guy presented a formal statement of work broken down by each task. The quote total was $1100. The next guy came, looked at the tree and said that he would charge $300. Having seen the first guy’s formal statement of work which was broken down by tasks, my friend asked if it included roots removal.

     

    “Sir, that will be $150 extra. So the grand total will be $450.” Promised the second bidder.

 

    My friend was delighted. The second guy had exceeded his expectations for the price and got the job. The next day the guy came with four helpers and started the job. My friend and his wife had to attend an event and left home at lunch time.

 

    When they returned, they saw that the tree was cut only half way but the workers and the boss were nowhere to be seen. He called the guy.

 

     “Sir, the saw broke so we had to leave. I will get a new one in a few days and come back to finish the job. But I am short of money right now to get a new one.” Wanting to finish the job before the holidays and also pitying the guy, my friend offered him advanced payment of $450 to buy a saw and finish the job.

 

    After that none of the phone calls from my friend were returned and two weeks later some strange person picked up the phone and said “Wrong number.” Now in a great hurry to remove the rest of the tree, my friend called the first guy. Professional that he was (it was all business, nothing personal), he came by to finish the job.

 

    When his workers climbed the remaining part of the tree, they noticed that my friend’s roof was cracked and they immediately informed him of the news. It seemed that the previous guy had dropped a branch on his roof and damaged it.

 

The final tally to remove the tree: $2100. And broken down by work:

1. removing remaining part of the tree plus

2. roof repair and

3. not to forget $450 advance to the other guy for the saw.

 

Reflection: 

When I finished listening to this story, it reminded me of one similar incident from my youth that was published in FR four years ago.

 

http://fridayreflections.typepad.com/weblog/2007/10/pay-me-now-or-p.html