Have you felt powerless to make a difference in your world? When people are challenged to make a difference in their world I hear lots of excuses. Do any of these sound familiar:
- I’m too old?
- I have no talent?
- I’ve got my own problems?
- who would pay any attention?
- no one even knows I’m alive?
Let me introduce you to 93 year old Louise Edlen. For the last 5 years she has stood every morning by her dining room window and waved to Arlington school bus No.7 filled with kids. No one on the bus knows her name. The kids just call her “the grandma in the window.” She doesn’t know the names of anyone on the bus. But every morning Louise keeps her appointment to wave as the kid-filled bus goes by. And the kids smile and wave back.
But something happened. One day as the bus went by the kids noticed an empty window. Several days in a row “the grandma in the window” failed to appear. Carol Mitzelfeld, the bus driver, discovered Louise had suffered a stroke. Carol passed the sad news on to the rider of bus No. 7. With her help the kids sent flowers to Louise who remained in bed trying to get better.
Louise responded by having a sign placed in the window with the words “THANK YOU” flanked by two big red hearts. The kids saw the sign and decided to take their concern one step further. In cooperation with the bus driver someone snapped a photo of the bus filled with waving kids. Since Louise couldn’t come to the bus they took the bus to her.
Wow. Love in action. It all started with a wave from a window by a grandma. And a bus filled with kids took notice.
So, tell me one more time, what’s your excuse for not making a difference in your world? How long will you hide behind your flimsy excuses for not making your world a better place? Find a way, even if it seems small, to make the world a better place.
What will you do today to make the world a better place?
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