Heart-Felt?

Special Olympics athletes are spokespersons for freedom itself-they ask for the freedom to live, the freedom to belong, the freedom to contribute, the freedom to have a chance. -Eunice Kennedy Shriver
(1921-2009) founder of the Special Olympics.

There was a time when buying a house was considered an integral part of living the American Dream. A place that you could retreat to with your family and friends and unwind after a hard day’s work. A job that you went to early in the morning and gave it all you had from start to finish just to make a week’s pay. A salary that was enough to pay the mortgage and put food on the table. Even enough to skim some off the top and put it into a savings account for a rainy day…or even better, the day you retired, picked up your gold watch from the company that you gave your loyalty to and enjoyed your golden years!

During that time there was a sense of community when families from the same neighborhood looked out for each other. If someone was sick, friends cooked, took care of children and were simply there for each other. Why? Because they knew it was the right thing to do and would certainly be reciprocated when the shoe was on the other foot. Actual heart felt caring for each other that meant something.

Perhaps the capitalist in you is beginning to cringe as you conjure up thoughts of incongruence, as you plead, yea but that’s not how you get ahead. It’s a dog eat dog world out there and being a person for others just doesn’t pay. Maybe to a certain extent we could all agree that survival rests squarely on the shoulders of the go-getters; but the dilemma and perhaps a part of what’s broken is the loss of caring about the price.

Consider the state of the economy. Banks are in turmoil. Wall Street has a bad name. Real Estate has a black eye. The mortage industry is being chastised for it’s greed. There’s a clear theme running through all of this aside from casting blame. After all, the “economy” is a term we use to depersonalize ourselves. Aren’t we the ones that seek each other out for money management advice. Aren’t we the ones that buy real estate from each other and seek the help of real estate agents and mortgage brokers?

So let’s chunk it down under a microscope. What does Wall Street even mean? It’s actually a tiny little street in the middle of the most heavily populated city in the U.S. What’s a street name tell us about one advisor versus the next. Just because Bernie Madoff bilked many people out of their life savings does it mean that all businesses on Wall Street are corrupt? Simply because some greedy mortgage brokers lied about the financial qualifications of their clients, should we vilify a whole industry?

Of course we are mad about all of this. We’re having town hall discussions that are passionate. We’re questioning authority. Maybe we waited too long to reach the point of inspirational dissatisfaction, but we’re back! We’re back to opening up savings accounts and putting away the first 10% before we buy anything. We’re back to having to show more income on our tax returns in order to qualify for a house that we can actually afford. Going out to eat is being treated like the luxury that it should be!

So why is any of this beyond a statement of the obvious? Well consider how the divorce rate has gone through the roof. Consider how much more dangerous the world seems to have become as we isolate ourselves from each other so we don’t have to reveal what we don’t have; how we’ve been perpetuating a farce!

Here’s what’s broken: the little house with the picket fence is too much money. The cars in the garage are expensive hunks of metal that have replaced the family vacation to the beach. The pressure to keep up with the payments has us working multiple jobs as fathers and mothers play tag at the front door handing off children that are caught up in a whirlwind of activities to become the next Michael Jordan, Tom Cruise, Pavarotti or whatever other type of virtuoso the family thinks they can force them to become!

As a result, we don’t sleep well. We don’t eat well. We’re out of shape. We don’t notice the beauty of the places we live. We don’t experience them with each other. Even worse, to feel better we hack away at each other and forget to praise. When somebody else’s  kid hits a home run we wonder what’s wrong with ours. We stop looking for our own best attributes and we seek the help of the pharmaceutical industry to make it right. Well of course it’s simply part of this new world we live in you might say!

Ridiculous! Let’s cut of the legs off of this nonsense! Where’s the heart that we once had?! There’s nothing more important than being there for other people and you know it! Just look at the funerals of those who dedicate their lives to others. How about the one that just took place in my backyard! Eunice Kennedy Shriver! If you’ve been under a rock then you might have missed that she was the founder of the Special Olympics! One of her athletes gave a brilliant speech on how she was a person who came for those that had been forgotten and left behind! From celebrities to average Joes and Janes, they came out in full force to celebrate the life of a heart-felt giver!

So what can you do? Be there for somebody! I don’t care if you fancy yourself a hermit. Go and check in with another hermit! Get up off your couch and help an elderly person cut their grass! Help someone behind on their mortgage payments get a new resume together! Encourage a friend who is suffering from depression to take a walk with you in the cool breeze and let them air it out with you. You want to help us return to the days gone by when life was simpler? Well that’s easy. Reach out to somebody with your heart. If you think your role is insignificant then sit down and watch It’s a Wonderful Life, because you have no idea how powerful you can be! The pumping of your heart might just save another one!

P.S. If you have a story of how someone helped you and what it really meant to you, will you please post it here?!