Be Kind
If we could show each other the same compassion and care as people showed for these feathered friends the world would be a happier place.
https://www.facebook.com/logical.indian/videos/673432022786520/
Filling Needs
What else would be possible if we all took the time to fill one need that we see in the world? The world would be filled with LemonadeMakers and that would be a wonderful thing!
Be Yourself
How cool is it that you could have gravitational pull, just by being who you truly are?
Resilience
“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.” Dr Suess
Has anyone ever asked you what the one thing in your life you would change in your past if you could? What did you answer?
When I have been asked this question, my answer is while there is pain in my life I would rather had not experienced, I would not change it. I think about changing some of the pain that my kids suffered, but then I think about it more.
The reason I wouldn’t change it is because it made me the person I am today. In each storm, the thunder and lightning and the pouring rain made a change in me.
I got to see that suffering is truly optional.
I experienced an deep understanding that you don’t die from tragedy.
I gained empathy for others. I saw the steps that led them to create tragedy in someone else’s life, and I saw that most people don’t realize the consequences of their choices until they have created the hot mess that results. I have seen people fall down a metaphorical cliff and then climb back out.
I am inspired and amazed by other people’s stories. How they take personal tragedy and create an amazing life. A girl goes blind and becomes a marathon runner. Someone who is born without arms or legs goes to high schools and talks to kids about living life to the fullest and how suicide is not the answer. People who would have every justifiable reason to rail against god, turn what we would think as a tragedy into an inspirational journey through life.
So when I think about would I change even my children’s suffering, I pause. I don’t know what that tragedy has changed in them. I don’t know what that tragedy will mean for them in their future. If I took that anyway would they be a weaker person and not able to face something that is still to come?
So my answer is like Dr. Suess, Don’t cry over what has happened, because this tragedy is like a building block. It creates a foundation not upon sand, but upon rock, so that whatever is coming through life’s storms will not be able to tear you down, because you are strong. You have learned from life’s storms to lean on the divine, to ask for help and support from true friends, and that what doesn’t kill you, really does make you stronger.
Life’s tragedies, these storms, may create rough seas, but after the storm is calm water. The sun comes out, the winds die down, and life once again becomes beautiful. Smile because you are victorious and something made new again. Smile because life really is a joyous journey, and you are somebody’s inspiration that they too will survive and thrive.
It is really hard to say this when you are still bleeding from the wound. But as time passes and you heal, that is when the recognition comes. You will see the broken places have healed and altered who you are and you will see the blessings that are there should you choose to accept them. I know that my sister is just now getting to that place from the murder of my nephew.I can see how she has changed, and it will be up to her to choose the blessing his death has brought her. I know what he death brought to me, an awakened spirit that is realizing how much she has yet to do on this earth. The beauty of LemonadeMakers, which has in turn stretched and grown me into someone I never thought I was capable of being, and the knowledge that I am continuing to grow and stretch with this new book I am writing. I can honestly say that without his death, I don’t think that I would be the person I am today.
Shankar Naidu
A true hero and Lemonademakerhttps://www.facebook.com/shankar.naidu/videos/10151464452687242/
Commitment
“With courage you will dare to take risks, have the strength to be compassionate, and the wisdom to be humble. Courage is the foundation of integrity.” Keshavan Nair
I really like this thought that courage is the foundation of integrity. When life goes different than we plan, we often come up against the opportunity to let the changes sweep us aside from our obligations. It takes courage to stand by our word when it is uncomfortable and hard.
I remember personally a situation in our own family. Years ago, when my mom was dying she wanted to stay at home and not go to the hospital. The doctors thought that she had just a couple of weeks left, so having already used up all of my vacation with her, I took a leave of absence from work to help take care of her. The projected two weeks turned into three months.
This was a large enough gap in our income that it tumbled us into bankruptcy. We had the choice to repay our creditors (Chapter 13) who had lent us money in good faith or to walk away from the debts with a Chapter 7. I had the perfect excuse of financial hardship. Most people I knew at that time encouraged us to do just that.
In order to repay everyone in three years it was a significant payment and that meant we would have to live very frugally, but that is the choice that we made. It would have been easier financially to walk away and our credit history would have recovered faster if we had walked away. This has left us with the feeling that we were actually being punished for doing the right thing.
However looking in my heart, I knew that I had to stay in integrity. There were times in those three years when I wished I had taken the easier road, as the kids were mostly teenagers and Alvin ended up having to take a second job just so we could make it.
When I look at it from hindsight I can see how it does take courage to be, and stay in integrity. To honor your word no matter the cost or circumstances takes great moral courage. It teaches you to take a second look before making agreements, because you realize that while at the moment the agreement is easy to make, you don’t know what will change in your future that could put that agreement at risk.
When you commit to have your work done at a certain time; to run an errand; to pick someone up; a multitude of things that we make a commitment or agreement to do. It is easy to say this is such a small thing, and I felt obligated to say yes, and I didn’t really want to do it, and now I really don’t want to do it. Yet it is still a commitment that will affect your integrity.
I am sure that you have heard “as you do one thing is how you do everything”. It is a true parable. When we live a life out of integrity, it is because we started breaking commitments for small things, with whatever handy excuse we had. Once you start down that path, it is all too easy to keep going downhill, and you start breaking larger commitments. There comes a time when people no longer trust you at your word. There comes a time when you don’t even trust yourself at your word.
Your inner sense of wellbeing is impacted, because your own mind doesn’t believe you anymore when you say you are going to do something. It looks at your history and says, Yeah, well as soon as you don’t feel like it, you will walk away from this commitment too.
This is one of the most important things that we can teach our children, by how we live our own lives. When you make a commitment, large or small – the importance of keeping that commitment is critical to the kind of person you are growing up to be. Be a person of personal and moral integrity and you will go far in life.
Andre Sobel Award
The 2015 Andre Sobel Award for teen survivors of catastrophic illness is now open for entries.
Breath in the Love
This is the song that I had created for LemonadeMakers. I really like how it turned out. Please share if you feel so inclined. We would love to have the song spread all over the world as it personafies who a LemonadeMaker is.
Love us!
River of Life Foundation
LemonadeMakers – Andre Sobel River of Life Foundation.
Within 24 HOURS, the Andre Sobel River of Life Foundation helps with urgent expenses to allow single parents to stay at their child’s bedside during catastrophic illness. http://andreriveroflife.org/what-we-do/
#compassion #catastrophicillness #teens #gethelp
http://andreriveroflife.org/what-we-do/