Ways that we can make a difference

One thing that I have started to realize in my “old age” is that weaknesses and shortcomings are usually just the darker side of our strengths.

For instance, the person who is a high achiever and very driven is usually vastly impatient. The highly intuitive and creative individual can often seem erratic and scatterbrained. Like it or not, your own strengths and weakness are just opposite twins of your personality, traits and talents.

Our society is a mirror or reflection of who we are as individuals, and as such falls into this same kind of situation, where our greatest strengths can also create our greatest weaknesses. Many cultures place a very high value on community and group thinking, whereas in our culture we stress the individual.

From our very own history, we enshrine that each person has “inalienable human rights” as an individual human entity. Our nation protects freedom of speech, freedom of choice and freedom of an individual to determine his or her own destiny.

It should go without saying that the value of the individual is a valid truth and has shaped the history of our nation and our culture, as well. Aside from just popular sentiment, you can see it reflected in go-it-alone media figures, such as John Wayne (from a previous generation) or the new governor of California, Ah-nold. This strong belief is woven in the very fabric of our own minds and hearts and represents our great strength as a nation.

Lest you think I have just been rambling, let me go back to the point about strengths breeding weaknesses. For all the immensely positive things that individuality brings, it does have a drawback, because it tends to make people more isolated and more self-centered. When you consider the people that turn into workaholics, get overly involved in even good things (like church activities) or similar situations, you get a sense that there is indeed a dark side to our strength as a culture.

The first cure for any problem is always first acknowledging that it does in fact exist, so just by starting to become aware of thistendency is a first step to changing it. Of course, it needs to progress beyond just good intentions, or it becomes like so many other things we promise ourselves but never do –– things like spending more time with our families, quitting some bad habit or exercising, to name a few. Talk needs to become action.

The bottom line is that we need to take extra efforts to pry ourselves out of our carefully crafted little lives and become keenly aware that there are others around us –– certainly our families, but even more broadly than that.

We live as individuals, but we also exist as part of a neighborhood or business. We touch other people around us by the places we go, the things we do and the activities that our life holds.

The point of it all is that we need to strive to make a difference in the places we go and the lives that we touch. To borrow a sports analogy, it’s the difference between being a spectator and a player.

I would be the first to admit that getting involved in making a difference is inconvenient, risky and sometimes downright scary. Nothing worthwhile is easy, and in fact does at times run the possibility of failure or rejection. Then again, nothing in our world at large will change for the better if we refuse to do anything to make our corner of it better.

Mildred Hondorf taught elementary school and piano to students throughout the years and tells a story of how she made a difference. An 11-year-old boy named Robby took lessons from her, but was musically challenged and never seemed to catch on. He seemed to lack the talent, even thought he said, “My mother will hear me play some day.”

The day of a large recital came, and he took the stage and played a rousing musical piece that left everyone so impressed that he received a standing ovation. When asked what made such a difference in his playing, he explained that his mother, who was deaf, had passed away the day before from cancer, and this was the first day she could hear him play.

The ironic end to this story took place when Timothy McVeigh blew up the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. According to reports, do you know what Robby was doing when the bomb went off? That’s right, he was playing the piano.

Each one of us needs to think about how to make a deep and lasting difference in this world by positively touching the lives of those around us.

Joe Rinehart is a Federal Way resident and a former pastor. He can be reached at P.O. Box 25536, Federal Way, WA 98093.

Comment on this story.

COMMENTING RULES: We encourage an open exchange of ideas in our online community, but we ask you to follow our guidelines for respecting community standards. In a nutshell, don't say anything you wouldn't want your mother to read.