On March 7, 2008 my life got turned upside down. I was unexpectedly diagnosed with a brain tumor which was so not on my to do list! Equally unexpectedly, I had neurosurgery on March 20 and the results of the biopsy indicated that the tumor was benign. Thank God! Along this journey, I have taken solace in the fact that this is a huge opportunity for us all.
I am a clinical psychology doctoral student at Vanderbilt University. For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to make a huge difference in the world. For a couple of days, I actually feared that I had wished this scary and chaotic experience on myself and my loved ones, but then I was reminded that "life prepares life" and it all started making a bit more sense.
In a whirlwind of pre-operative appointments, Dr. Kyle Weaver, my neurosurgeon, told me that I should "hold onto my blood" which was a huge blow to me as I try to be a regular blood donor. Without skipping a beat, however, my advisor, Dr. Bruce Compas, made me an offer to "pick up the slack" which I believe was the impetus for this whole GO BIG challenge as it struck me then that perhaps we can all be doing just a little more.
As a person who hopes to make a profession and a life of helping children and families, I'm committed to helping others in the best way I know how. Consistently, I work with parents and children teaching them to praise the good and ignore the bad. Not my idea, but it is a behavioral principle that works. Now, don't get me wrong--I'm not blind to the evil in this world. In fact, I'm struck by our culture's fascination with drama, hurt, despair, and scandal. It absolutely blows my mind that these negatives suck so much of our attention that we can relatively easily forget all of the 1000's acts of kindness that are going on right this very minute.
My hope is that this website can be a central location for all of us to capture all of the really awesome things that we are already doing and that we can all be inspired by each other's goodness. It's not an original or courageous idea (although some have called it that), it is just an opportunity to do something that I've always wanted to do. And, I'll bet that if I'm anything like you, I'm just doing the best that I can in this moment. Sometimes that means that I offend people. We are all imperfectly perfect and I know that that is where the true beauty lies.
There are no absolute rules because I couldn't possibly predict the creative and imaginative ways that we can each help one another. Well, that's a lie. There is really just one rule: do what you feel in your heart! Try not to feel like what you do doesn't matter. It does! If you don't believe me, read the postings for yourself and see what you think. To somebody in that moment, you will have made a difference and for that I am eternally grateful.
So if you feel it in your heart or your head or whatever pushes you to act, try to do something. Nothing is too small and nothing is too big. Just put one foot in front of the other, and if you wish, take a risk.
Overwhelmed with a sea of emotions and an outpouring of support from our community, Austin, the love of my life, and I have felt so very blessed. I believe that there is always meaning out there in this precious world of ours, sometimes you just have to squint to find it. This past several weeks has been a truly rock ride and my guess is that life always will be. So, step aboard if you are up for the challenge and let's see how far we can get this good to spread.
With great gratitude,
10 comments:
A barista at Starbucks donated one of her kidneys to one of their regular customers and was featured on the Today show this morning...thought you would like it because (a) it's definitely worthy of the term "random act of kindness" and (b) your daily patronage and love of Starbucks. Thought I'd share :) So glad you're doing well...lovely to see a post from you this morning!
Today, I made up a care package to send to my sis at college.
Kindness received: An invitation to a yummy dinner at the Gramps.
I convinced a friend to "Go Big" today
Hey
So good to see a post from actual Jenni!
I went big for Jenni today in a small way- I was grocery shopping at Stew Leonard's and on my way to my car, I saw an unattended grocery cart being blown by the wind across the lot and headed for a couple of cars. I thought, "OH OH!!" Then I thought - "WAIT" Go big for Jenni!" and I ran and cut off the wayward grocery cart before it could hit the other cars and put it away safely. I was grinning to myself all the way to my car!!
Life is good.
Rosemary
Today while working, I assisted my coworker by doing some of her "Tiny" writing. This "Tiny" writing required for wee baby bands hurts her arthritic hands. I am happy to say that as of this posting for me it is easy to do, and for my coworker, it makes her day a little easier.
Happy Birthday to the wee little one who received those baby bands.
Aunt Tar
It was a small thing, but I took the garbage can out and back up the driveway, which was very kind to Austin and big time exercise for me! ;)
I remembered my fellow car drivers and let a car through who was waiting to get out of an alley during morning traffic...I even got a wave :)
Good Morning Jenni! As you know I am a middle school teacher, and I am blessed to have an amazingly kind advisory group of 7th and 8th graders. We have talked a lot about you during advisory and I told them about my embarrassing blood donating debacle. Today, we decided to let you know what we have been doing to GOBIG.
Matts – I emptied the dishwasher without having to be asked by my parents
Alexander – I held the door for a group of lower school students yesterday
Julia – I helped Amanda clean her locker (which was a complete disaster and was giving her advisor, Mr. Boger, migraines)
Alexandra – I helped a fellow classmate with a challenging math problem
EB – I agree to pick up five pieces of trash today
Amanda – I visited my 96 year old great grandmother in New Jersey during Spring Break (also, last year for my birthday, I asked for people to donate money to Children Hope Hospitality House in Illinois instead of giving me presents. I was able to raise 1200 dollars)
Ilana - I agree to clean the often left messy 7th grade homeroom, also Mr. Boger’s classroom, at the end of the day today (Thursday).
Also, the English Department has their students practice their vocabulary by using the website freerice.com. For every word you get right, they donate 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program.
i stopped at the crosswalk in front of USN to let a woman cross over to Peabody. she looked really surprised to see somebody yield!
Hi Jenni!
Kat (Boger) told me about "Go Big" and today a friend needed some change while buying her lunch and so I just opened my wallet and gave it to her.
Glad to hear you are doing well! :)
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