I begin today with the moral of the story: It’s not all about you.
The story comes from David J. Flood. He’s a motivational speaker who takes his message to teen audiences. His story, though, should be heard by all ages.
He talks about his son Justin, who has autism.
Flood stands before his audiences and says, “Justin looks like all of you guys, and he is just like all you guys. Not here (pointing to his head), here (touching his heart).”
Justin struggles to fit in socially, but he is not afraid to try. He learned to ice skate and joined a rec league hockey team with other typical 10- and 11-year-olds.
Flood takes his audience to the final game of the season. Three minutes to go and they were clearly losing. They feed the puck to Justin who takes a soft shot that goes off the goalie’s pad, but he gets the rebound and makes the goal.
The kids are going crazy, says Flood, who noted he was melting the ice with tears. “All they did was let a kid score a goal,” said Flood. But, “They had no idea that that kid’s father would go out and tell that story to over 100,000 kids…”
And with that story he plants an important seed … the message to take home.
A message we all need to think about -- every day. Because every day we judge people by what we see on the outside.
What we should be doing, Flood says, is look at people on the inside and try to see ourselves. “Your life is not about you,” he says. “Your life is not about you. Your life is about all the people around you.”
Of course, following this wise advice … is all about you.
I’mLonny Cain, and that’s my Perspective.
