Social Responsibility and Charity

Good Morning!


I hope that you had a fulfilling week...


I sure did...then I realized that it could have been even more fulfilling...


Have you ever felt that way?


Like something was missing?


That was the topic of a conversation that I had this week...and it changed me!


I was talking with a friend about the many charitable organizations that are making a difference in this world!


And that we should and could be making the same relative impacts on our worlds...perhaps that empty feeling was coming from the fact that we were leaving an important aspect of our lives undone...


Then I reflected on something I saw this past weekend...


I was touched by an 84 year old man who has been on a crusade for the past 60 years raising millions of dollars to help his kids...Jerry's kids...yes Jerry Lewis...84 years old and 60 years into his MDA telethon!


Did you know that when he started...he was 24 years old...and the kids diagnosed with MD hoped to live into the double digits...yes 10, 11, 12!


60 years later...thanks to the funding that his telethons provided to research...kids diagnosed with MD live into their mid to late 20's!  He and his charity has doubled their life expectancy!


You could say that Jerry has changed their lives!


He would disagree...


The kids with MD have changed his life!


That is why he keeps doing it!


That is the secret of charity!


And Social Responsibility...


A lesson that we need to learn...


Do not set out to change the lives of others...


Go out and be willing to be changed and you'll attack your cause with all of the fervor that has kept Jerry going after a cure for MD for the last 60 years!


Let me say it again...do not go out thinking that you are going to change the lives of others...go out and look for a change in you!  Make differences in the lives of others and then look at what it does to you...


You haven't fully grasped this important lesson in life...until you understand that the most important thing that happens when you help someone is not the change in them but the change in you...and it is a by-product and should not be the reason for doing something...but it is often the biggest thing that happens...it is paradoxical!


That was what my friend was missing...he was waiting until he was rich and had the luxury of time to make a difference...


I disagreed and it set him on edge...


If it is important...get after it...


If it can wait...then look for something else...because you haven't found it yet...and that may be where the empty feeling is coming from...


Let's expand on this thought just a bit...because the real lesson for today lies therein...


All of your work...whether charitable or professional or personal...should actually seek the same thing...


Do not seek to make change...but be courageous enough to be changed.  It is actually a terrifying thought...


Jump into everything that you do...with everything you have...knowing that you'll come out different for the experience...


If you go in guarded...you'll get nothing for the effort...


That is not a charitable contribution...nor is it professional commitment...or a personal one...


Contribute and commit...it is our real Social, Professional and Personal Responsibility...that is what a true leader does...


If you do that...you'll never feel empty...


You'll change!


And the change will drive you to a higher level...


Enough Said...


Vivamos la Vida Pura y vamos para el todo!

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