I know a lot of people who do good things in their work, and intentionally so. They choose the organization they work for solely based on the mission and I find that admirable. I wonder though, what are they doing beyond that in the rest of their lives for others? Please know, I don’t ask that question in judgment, but rather in curiosity.
You see, I think when we choose what we perceive to be an honorable line of work in an organization of which we truly admire the mission, we don’t just aspire to work there because of what it does; it’s a real benefit to us as well. We get to work somewhere that we can believe in and we are no doubt proud of ourselves on some level for making that choice. It’s kind of a win-win all around. We get to do good and feel good about it. But is it enough?
I think about these things an awful lot lately. Maybe it’s because I’m getting older, or maybe it’s because I have gone through my share of tough situations and have been fortunate to have emerged fairly unscathed—or maybe I’d like to think I have. But I’m okay and I know there’s a lot of people who aren’t, and perhaps there’s something I can do about that. And the longer I get to be here in this life, the more I understand this: If I can do something to help, why wouldn’t I?
A good deal of my life is overscheduled, and that’s because of the choices I make with my time. Some of the things I’m thrilled about being a part of, and others I just know I need to take care of because I haven’t in the past and it’s time that I did. My biggest frustration is that I wish I had more hours and more energy because there’s so much I want to do—a lot of it comes back to the same thing. I see such need around me and know that there’s something I could do to make a little bit of a difference. And I’m trying to make that difference, and I wish each of us could do that just a little bit more each day.
Here’s a thought: What if we considered at least once a day what someone else might need—or we tried to instill a little bit more kindness in how we deal with those who try our patience most? These are things I try to challenge myself with each day, particularly the latter (patience is not my friend). It may not make a huge difference, but I can’t help but feel the universe would shift just ever so slightly in a positive way if we could pull this off together.
Pamme Boutselis 