The Power of Purpose

A few people have asked where The Lemon Tree went to. I decided to take it out of the Moowsletter because I felt it was too much reading for everyone. Instead, I am going to turn it into a special post at the end of each month because I think there are some great stories out there well worth sharing.

This month’s story is an old favourite of mine and provides a lot of food for thought.

I hope you like it!

In 1997, Jack Canfield, co-author of the bestseller, ‘Chicken Soup for the Soul’, read an extraordinary article in a newspaper.

In Tallahassee, Florida, Laura Shultz heard screaming in her front driveway and ran from the house to find her teenage grandson being crushed beneath the axle of his car after the jack collapsed.

Without pausing to think, the 63 year old, 100lb (45kg) grandmother raced over and lifted the entire back end of the 2000lb Buick herself, allowing bystanders to pull him free. The ambulance arrived, the boy survived, and when neighbours asked how she did it, she didn’t know what they were talking about. She could barely remember her feat of strength, only aware that she’d have to save her grandson.

Jack was so impressed that he called Laura to speak with her about the miracle, and was surprised to be greeted with a cold, “I do not want to talk about the incident”, before she hung.

Thinking he’d been misunderstood he called her back and said, “Laura, this is Jack Canfield again, I interview Olympic athletes and top performers…” only to be interrupted with the same answer and another sharp click as the receiver went down.

Many months passed when Jack found himself giving a seminar in Tallahassee one day, so he took the time to drive out to Laura’s house in another attempt to interview her. He knocked on the door and introduced himself.

Laura said, “I know who you are young man”, and with old-school southern courtesy invited him for a cup of coffee. He made small talk while they drank, but every time he tried to turn the conversation to that day she would simply change the subject.

Finally he said, “Laura, I get you don’t want to talk about it, but what I don’t understand is why”.

She looked down at her cup for a moment, then seemed to gather herself, raised her head and spoke passionately. “That day I did something impossible, and ever since then I’ve been asking myself, ‘Have I wasted my life?’ “

Jack was astonished and then stammered, “But, but…what you did was amazing! You should be proud!”

“Well I’m not. I did something I never thought I could do, and now not a day goes by that I don’t look back on my life and wonder just how many other things I could have done, but never even tried because I thought I couldn’t. I have no idea what is and what isn’t anymore, and now I can’t stop thinking, “Have I wasted my life?”

Perception is a funny thing so I’m going to leave it there. You can take from this story what you will.

Have a great weekend!

Adam

Back paddock – happy birthday to all those people who share a birthday on the 29th. There are 4 subscribers that I know of – Pamela, Robyn, Sol and Westy. I left the surnames off just to keep it a little discreet. Don’t worry about the last two, they’re just a couple of blow-ins from uni. but still worth a mention. 😉