October 22, 2010
Taking the Time to Make a Difference
People who take time to make a difference
BY PAUL R. LEINGANG
(Listen to Paul read this column | Weekly podcast)
This is an invitation.
This column, “Taking the Time to Make a Difference,” has been published since the mid-1990s. It was one of the early features of the website of the Christian Family Movement, and continues to be available there.
In recent times, an audio version of “Taking the Time” has been available at the web site of the Message, www.themessageonline.org, and at the website of the Christian Family Movement, www.cfm.org.
In the 1990s, CFM published a book, “Love in Action,” based on what we Catholics call the Corporal Works of Mercy and the Spiritual Works of Mercy. That book included an innovation: In each chapter dealing with one of the works of mercy, a paragraph was included “from real life.”
If a chapter, for example, dealt with visiting the sick or giving drink to the thirsty, a vignette was included to give an example of someone who was following this scriptural call.
Not too long ago, I reflected in a column on adding a new “work of mercy.” I came to realize that there are many people who don’t have good available transportation, people who can’t get to work, visit a relative or get to a doctor. I proposed a new work of mercy: along with giving drink to the thirsty and food to the hungry, there should be an exhortation to “give a ride to one who needs it.”
Over the years, actually over millenia, we have come to see new ways of describing abiding truth. In a very recent column, I told a story about traveling in India, and how the driver and all of the travelers on a bus had come to rely on a man whose job was to be a helper. When the bus was in a tight spot, the helper was the one who had to get out into the rain to give us guidance.
I asked readers to “think about the people who have stood out in the rain for you.” And among examples I gave were those who work nights in the Nursing Home.”
A reader, Carol C., commented.
“For sixteen years, that was me,” she said.
“As an RN on duty 11 p.m. till 7 a.m. in a nursing home, I watched each sleeping client, said a prayer, tucked the senile ones under the covers with their stuffed bears, and thanked God for them and for my blessed job.
“With some who were restless, I said a childhood prayer ‘Now I lay me down to sleep’ with them, and this ritual of their childhood comforted them and enabled their slumber.”
This is real life, I thought. Here is another story.
Robby Slaughter, an Indianapolis author who talks about failure as “part of the path to success,” spoke in Evansville recently. A friend told me that he emphasized the message, “Failure is not an end; it is a beginning.”
In addition, he makes a point to speak to his audience one to one, she said. “The lady sitting by me was working on a resumé for a job she’s applying for, and he made the time during dinner to show her how to make her resumé more marketable.”
* * *
There is a Christian song about making a difference, there are news and entertainment magazines with features about people who make a difference, there is even a nationally proclaimed day to make a difference.
Here’s my request: Respond to this column, telling me what you have done, or what others have done, to make a difference.
If you need structure, I propose the Eight Beatitudes as the framework. You might want to read the Gospel of St. Matthew, Chapter 5:3-10.
Who today are the poor in spirit, the meek, they who mourn, the ones who hunger and thirst after justice, the merciful, the clean of heart, the peacemakers, the ones who suffer persecution for the sake of justice?
Or, who are the people today who give drink to the thirsty, food to the hungry, shelter to the homeless, comfort to the sick and the dying?
Who will take time to convince a transit district to make sure a worker can get to his or her job?
Who has taken the time to make a difference?
Send your response to message@evdio.org, or to office@cfm.org. Mail to the Message, P.O. Box 4169, Evansville, IN 47724, or to the Christian Family Movement, P.O. Box 925, Evansville, IN 47706-0925.