Inspiration can sometimes be small quips from famous people who have changed the world we live in though their actions, most often in massive ways. Or, inspiration can be small, local, and achieved by people who are no different than you or I. While it certainly takes the greatest men and women of the world to push the boundaries of human endeavor, most of the push is one inch at a time, one small deed at a time.
With that consideration in mind, I want to talk about a longer story for this week’s inspirational page. It's general inspiration, though it certainly can prove fodder for writing.
A man named Dave Urban, an employee at Lowes helped a family, the Gettys, and their son. As you can see in the story linked here in full, William Getty, born premature at 23 weeks has quadriplegic spastic cerebral palsy. This makes muscles stiff and movements jerky and awkward. Quadriplegic means it affects arms and legs. It will be a journey for William for the rest of his life. There is presently no cure. Go read the simple act done by Dave. I'll wait...
Dave Urban chose to play a part in William's journey. He went above and beyond his job, to help make sure that the walking rig they were setting up for their child was just right, and as the story shows, it was. I’m not looking to duplicate the content of the story. I am looking to say something different here today. Some people will look at this story and say how horrible it is that William has to suffer this. They would be right. Some people will say that it is not all that news worthy, and in some sense, they would also be right.
But why does our news always need to be so negative in its outlook? The story here has hardship, but every story does. Every life does. Why do we have to shy away from looking in the face of adversity like William’s?
Life is hard. Life is brutally hard. William wears his difficulty on the proverbial sleeve. We see it, we understand it. Everyone else walks through life with their own secret or public facing misfortune. What prevents hardship from being a tragedy is the people around him. His family clearly loves him, and a stranger chose to go not the extra mile, but the extra few steps. It didn’t have to be a monumental life changing effort. That is what makes living worth it. The success William will have in life pushing through his hardship could be the inspiration to thousands of others.
We can act that way too. Did a coworker do something that was just a little above the call of duty? Write a short, low priority email to their boss. Tell them about it. Say thank you. Drop flowers off at the local cancer ward for the nurses; they are generally overworked. Drop them off for the patients; they are generally over stressed. Slow down at the exit ramps, and be sure to let a person merge. Really listen the next time a person tells you about their day, and ask insightful questions. Compliment someone’s shoes.
We don’t need to be super heroes. People like William will already be one of those. Be someone who goes an extra few steps. Because only through each other will we avert tragedies.
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