The Caring Catalyst

Who Cares - What Matters

When 60 Minutes Takes Less than 30 Seconds

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Did you see it?

I don’t normally watch 60 Minutes on Sunday’s…mostly because I rarely am able to put 60 minutes together consecutively…I didn’t last Sunday either; but you know what “THEY” say: “Timing is everything.”

I was REMOTELY switching through some channels when I chanced upon a 60 Minutes expose as it started…pure chance or….

It featured 104 year old Nicholas Winton. He was a young stockbroker in 1938 and he was severely distressed as he watched Hitler’s Germany march its way across Eastern Europe. When he was in Prague for a vacation he thought, “Someone should do something?” and he thought even more decisively, “Hey, I AM SOMEONE!”

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Taking Back TRUST a DVD at a Time

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It was suppose to be a simple trip.

A favor that turned into a furor!

Why do things go all ka-fluey when there’s just no reason for them NOT to go smoothly?

Don’t tell me: “JUST BECAUSE!”

Don’t tell me: “It’s a fate thing?”

Don’t tell me: “Mr. Murphy has moved next door and wants to be intimately close to you.”

Don’t tell me that sometimes when I look at something square on without blinking that I still can’t see if for the very life of me.

I went to the Redbox kiosk as the rain beat down on me like a war drum gone amok. I tried pressing the RIGHT buttons but, oh, no, Mr Murphy on a Christmas morn with an Easter sunrise, the Redbox machine was more frozen than an iceberg in January.

As I was ‘praying’ an unheard sanctuary prayer, a couple came running from their car to return their DVD and when I told them of the problem, they too joined me in this unholy litany to the Redbox gods.

And then, then it happened. I told them that I was going to go to another Redbox a few miles a way and if they wanted, I would be glad to return their two DVD’s.

They didn’t pause. They said, “Would you? That would be so nice of you.”

They shoved the DVD’s in my hand quicker than they could have ever done to that Redbox machine. And they ran back to the car faster than the next raindrop and were gone.

They trusted me. They trusted me with about $100.00 worth of their DVD movies. They trusted ME!

On the way to the next Redbox kiosk (about three miles) away, I was no longer mad at a favor turned bad. I was a little more humbled, a little more encouraged and validated.

What, what made them trust me? Was it the rain? Was it the baby crying in the back seat and wanting to get home NO MATTER WHAT THE COST? Was it my face? A kind offer that surprised/shocked them? Was it the frustration of a frozen Redbox machine? What?

What do we show people? How are we ultimately seen? Kind? Sincere? Compassionate? Trustworthy?

I can’t pass THAT or any other Redbox kiosk now and not ask myself those kind of questions.

Come on, there’s day’s when I do everything I can NOT to look my way for any reason.

Maybe this is a kind, a compassionate reason for all of us to be reminded, “It’s no longer enough just ‘not to be so bad,” but to be kind, compassionate, giving TO BE KIND, COMPASSIONATE and GIVING.

Maybe the “T” in Trust actually begins with an “I?”

Maybe we can actually ‘take back’ TRUST one DVD at a time. . . ?

Maybe THAT’S the special feature we all need to do more than just renting out or simply viewing…?

Maybe. . . .

Love Past A Season

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WE say it’s easier if you love someone.

We say it’s easier if it’s a family member.

We say it’s the right thing to do.

We say it’s longer lasting than a Moment, A Day, or a Season.

We say. . . .

The truest Love wrapped in the warmest Compassion overcomes most likely everything in and out of this world.

That Love will grow weary.

That Love will become weaker.

That Love will Know all things, Believe all things, Endure all things.

That Love will never fail.

That Love will never end.

That Love is what we possess and have the power to parlay to and for the good of others.

Let someone else do it?

We are SOMEONE ELSE!

See. Be Free that wonderful gift that exists and you and begs to be shared…but never just once. It becomes more potent each time shared.

Make the Best time…the Next time!

Don’t waste too many breaths in between the two!

Love past a Season is the only Season that lasts and is worth Living…it’s always the Perfect climate! It’s the only time of the year that continues, any you’re it’s caretaker!

The World needs a little ‘SEASONING.’ None better than yours–EVER!

President of the Impostor’s Syndrome International Club

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I pinned it on Pinterest!

IT received to date: 2858 REPINS, 844 LIKES and five comments.

IT is one of my most biggest fears (after Snakes and the Dentists)

MY BIGGEST FEAR
IS THAT EVENTUALLY
YOU WILL SEE ME
THE WAY
I SEE
MYSELF. . . .

…And alas, I’ll unanimously be voted as the President of the Impostor’s Syndrome International Club–Forever!

Anything FAKE about you…anything genuinely Imitation?

WHY?

When was the last time you were actually all YOU?

What brought it out? What made IT feel so authentic? So REAL?

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Believing In Good

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It’s the universal law of life, right?

YOU GIVE…YOU GET!

. . .But wonder if it’s not all that Universal…wonder if there’s NEVER a pay off, nothing added to a 401K or a meager Bank Account? Wonder if you got NOTHING for any, for EVERY thing you give. Would you still keep it up?

Wonder if truly the only thing you ever got for a kind act was only the shaking of a head, or frustration and anger…or, NO THANKS or Recognition in the tiniest of forms?

WOULD YOU STILL KEEP IT UP?

Wonder if all you got was just pure, unadulterated Emotions. A smile? A nod? A faithful, following dog? A hug? Witnessing someone truly benefiting from your kind, compassionate giving.

WOULD YOU STILL KEEP IT UP?

The World often becomes better not in big, huge ways, but small, almost unnoticed ways that often go UN-thanked and UN-paid.

See.

Be.

Free…that magnificent Light that allows others to not only be in the Brightness but also in the Warmth that often accompanies.

Make YOUR limelight be their Spotlight!

Find WAYS to out do, out give, out live yourself and you won’t have to worry about the World rewarding you…IT will be BENEFIT Enough!

Princess Unawares

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They really live anywhere, but still you wouldn’t expect to find ONE there. . . .

It was a Friday afternoon and the air still couldn’t figure out if it was the last day of Winter or the First day of Spring.

It was quiet in the hall way of the nursing home, well after lunch, with many naps in progress.

But not her. She was sitting in a wheelchair in front of the nurses station. She noticed me right away, this Keeper of the Hall way Kingdom.

“Hey, WHO ARE YOU?”

“My name’s Chuck,” I said to her.

“WHO?”

“My name is Chuck. I’m a Chaplain.”

“Come over here, I want to see your name tag,” she demanded.

I went over and knelt down in front of her and she grabbed the name tag I had clipped on my shirt and she first smiled and then started laughing…almost hysterically.

“What’s so funny,” I asked her?

“You’re Charlie Chaplain!”

I laughed with her and smiling back, owned it, “Yes I am.”

“Well, WHO AM I,” she asked, looking confused?

“You don’t know?”

“No, really, I don’t know. Who am I?”

“Well you’re a Princess!”

“A Princess?”

“Absolutely. A Princess. I knew it as soon as I started walking down this hall way and I really knew it when you asked me who I was?”

“And who am I,” an aide asked as she came from behind the nurses station?

“Well, you have the most important job of all, ma’am. You’re the Caretaker of the Princess, making her even more special than she is, every day and night!”

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Chipped Ham Sandwiches

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Chipped Ham Sandwiches!

Quick: WHAT COMES TO MIND?

Hunger? Mayo? Mustard? Barbecue? Fresh Bread? Picnics? Packed Lunches? Root Beer? Pickles?

Or Him?

For me, it’s always him.

Junior High through High School and then a few times during Christmas vacations or quick Summer visits.

Chipped Ham sandwiches.

It was his signature move, but not his only one.

On Friday night sleepover’s he’d make them after basketball practice. The freshest of Italian Bread slices, sometimes with thinly sliced tomatoes and an even thinner layer of mayo. It was a masterpiece, too good, almost to eat and always slow enough to savor.

He lived his life with the same kind of Masterpiece living. He always spoke softly with a smile and kept his car clean enough to eat a sandwich or a holiday meal. His garage and house was impeccable, nothing ever out of place and I loved always the perfect fire in the basement fireplace on cold winter evenings.

He loved Sinatra and was even more of a GENTLE man. He was a perfect compliment to a wife he adored and his two children whom he cherished.

He always asked of family and others before sharing of himself. I never knew of one of his needs, even when he was hurt in a steel mill accident.

I would often see him walking a track that I ran on in both of our adult years and he would always nod in acknowledgement and extend a hand before you could get one out of your pocket.

He has grieved heroically since his wife died suddenly in 2007 and I hadn’t seen or talked with or seldom of him since.

I had heard of his death like so many other things I learn of these days: A Facebook post.

I thought of Chipped Ham Sandwiches and the ease, skill and expertise he showed as he made them very shortly after unpacking his other groceries.

I will attend his funeral today out of respect for him and mostly his Son who has been my best friend since 8th grade.

I will Honor and celebrate Him with some shared memories.

I will Remember…and be thankful for the small, great things that make Life significant. I will take the things I’ve known; the very things I’ve admired, respected; the things I’ve loved and cherished and make them a part of myself–I’ll share them as they’ve been shared with me…so that others may remember and share alike one day on my behalf, too.

. . .and I will eat a chipped ham sandwich. . .

Maybe, Two!

Karma-Rific

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It was a simple gift from out daughter. Tickets to see Billy Joel in concert. They were “Cheap Seats.”
We didn’t care…it was nice to be out and see a guy I’ve followed since his first album to his latest work–including his only classical album, which most don’t even know exists.

I had to conduct a funeral. They went to the casino for a buffet dinner and a little gambling before the concert. We took two cars. I arrived first to the concert and went to our seats in the thin air section and within moments received their call that we had been granted FRONT ROW SEATS by a stage hand who was wandering the corridor giving out tickets to ‘ladies who look nice and aren’t afraid to dance.’

They told him about me, and even threw down the MINISTER card, (HOW COULD HE REFUSE, NOW) and he granted them three front row seats.

WOW!

WHY? Why them? Why Us?

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Monkeying Around

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Now, there’s Monkeying Around and then there’s MONKEYING AROUND!

The story goes that a group of Scientists placed 5 monkeys in a cage and in the middle, a ladder with a bunch of bananas at the top.

When a monkey would make his way to the top of the ladder to get a banana the rest of the monkeys would get splashed with cold water.

It didn’t take too long for the other four monkeys who weren’t climbing the ladder to beat up the one who attempted to climb for the bananas–even a dumb monkey doesn’t want to get splashed with cold water one time or over and over.

Soon, there were no monkeys attempting to climb the ladder, banana or no banana.

This is where it gets interesting.

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Hearing What’s Not Said

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More often than the day comes after the night we LISTEN to REPLY!

We have excuses and opinions on “the matter,” but it still is a true statement that becomes more and more true with each passing conversation.

LISTENING for REPLYING sake–not for understanding, not for sympathy, not for empathy, not for compassion, and not for love–for Replying sake.

Even now as you’ve seen the short video and are reading these few fleeting words, good or bad, you’re formulating a response and defend it by thinking, “Everyone’s entitled to their opinion.”

Shhhhhhh. . .LISTEN.

It’s amazing what you’ll hear being said and intimated when your ears are open–fully–and your mouth is closed except for an occasional, “Hmmmm,” “Uhhh-huh,” “Really? Can you tell me more about that,” and actually MEAN IT!

It’s not about The Nail…Especially if Someone Else needs it not be.

Now, That’s Communication!

Dare to Hear what’s NOT being Said…even if it’s NOT the way you would actually say it or preferred it to be said to you.

It’s amazing just what will be communicated–both ways–on a road that was never even fully ONE WAY let alone a two or four-laner.

Hear it OUT!

When you Speak with your Ears, you might have Shouted the Loudest and Heard the most. . . .

Professional Speaker, Author, Assurance Man