There is a message in the message
While listening to the radio during a recent commute I got a feeling in the pit of my stomach. I could feel myself get tense as the subject of the economy was being debated. Like you, I have heard it all. We are at the bottom of the market. The worst is yet to come. Without the bailout we are doomed. With the bailout we are setting a bad precedent.
Who is to know? As I pulled into my parking space I paused and thought - what really matters at the end of the day is one human reaching out to another and lending a hand. The perverbial "we are all in this together" mentality. And suddenly I recalled an experience when pulling together had special meaning.
I was a junior in college. A fraternity brother of ours had just lost his mother to cancer. A battle she did not wage very long. He was from a very small farm community and like many residents did not come from great means. One the day of the wake we all loaded up and drove the two hours to be with our friend. Most of us had never met his mother.
During our time at the funeral home we overheard that his family would not have enough money for a head stone at the grave site. This was not acceptable to us. Over the next three days we "passed the hat" amongst our commrades until we had raised enough money for a small head stone. We gave our money to our good friend. You could not hear the thank you through his tears. We really did not even need the thanks.
Looking back I recall many of us putting in what we could. We all were on a tight budget, but we all dug a little deeper. We felt a strong bond to our friend and even if we did not know his mother it did not matter. He was in need...and in some way so were we.
When you listen to the experts this season remember their message holds a message. Our work as a sector will survive. It has to...we have a bond to those we serve, they are in need...and in some way so are we.
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