What Would They Say?

The other day, I went with the wife to a banquet.  It was given by the state nurses’ association, of which she is a member.  They were having their annual membership meeting, and the banquet was kind of the highlight of the weekend.  I assume my wife invited me to the banquet (and paid for my dinner) because she needed some “arm candy.”  I fill that role very well, I might say, and did not disappoint on this night.

At many of this type of function, they have a program of some kind.  This was no exception.  They had a motivational speaker, announcements, and awards.  One of the awards was induction into a nurse hall of fame for Kansas.  There were four inductees, I believe, some of whom were deceased.

For each inductee, someone read a paragraph or two telling why this person deserved to belong in the hall of fame.  For one of the deceased inductees, the last comment was this, “Many lives were changed (for the better) because she was here.”

Think about that.  I won’t go into all of this woman’s accomplishments and career.  Suffice it to say that this was an ordinary woman in ordinary work environments with the ordinary trials and issues, ordinary aspirations and inclinations, who accomplished something truly extraordinary in her all-too-brief life (she died in her 50’s).  She changed the lives of many people for the better because she was diligent…diligent to live, love, serve, and give.

She wasn’t the daughter of a great business magnate.  She didn’t have the background that propelled her into the limelight.  She encountered the ordinary and routine of life.  Yet she made an extra-sweet lemonade out of that soupy mix and caused the lives of many to be forever changed and made better.

What would someone say about you should you be nominated for some kind of hall of fame?  Could they say, truthfully, that you changed the lives of many people for the better?  Could they say that the world was a better place because of you?  Could they articulate your accomplishments and achievements as they relate to your obligation to your neighbor (as defined by Jesus in the story of the Good Samaritan), and the universal spiritual admonition to do unto others as you would have them do unto you?

I don’t know what someone would say about me.  I’m not young anymore, and have lived by far most of my years.  And, I suppose it would matter somewhat who was saying things about me insofar as what that person would say.  I say that somewhat lightly, of course.

Maybe a good exercise would be for us to write our own induction into a hall of fame.  I dare say we would have a difficult time of it, as we don’t like to toot our own horns for one, and secondly, sadly, we might not have very much to write about.  Perhaps it’s time that we used what time we have left on this earth to make some changes…as long as there is breath, there is opportunity.  We dare not miss it.