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,
6 comments:
I've been meaning to post this for a while, but I must admit...I have let the mundane busy-ness of life distract me from doing so.
Better late than never, though...right?
Well here it goes. In attempt to continue my random acts of kindness here's what I've been doing:
Here in Miami, there aren't really any parking meters. Instead they have these pay station thingys everywhere, where you pay for a few hours of parking and get a receipt that you then place on your dashboard. I am a pretty bad judge of time, and usually end up paying for way more time than I use. Soooo...when I leave my parking space, I give my parking receipt to the person behind me (since there always seems to be someone ready and waiting to take my spot). The last time I did this, I also gave the driver a Go Big for Jenni business card!
I figure this small act of kindness is a great way to help someone else and perhaps turn their bad day into a good one. Plus...they won't have to spend time standing at a pay station in the sweltering Miami sun.
Last weekend I flew in from Florida late on Sunday night. I had parked in long-term parking, and on my way out, I noticed a woman who was on my bus from the terminal wandering around the lot. I asked her if she needed any help, and she said she couldn't remember where her car was. I convinced her to hop in and we could drive around and look for her car together. We found her car after about 15 minutes, in a totally different part of the parking lot! It felt good to help her get home instead of leaving her in the dark parking lot.
I gave blood today for the first time since all of this began. It was a very meaningful experience for me. Today's donation marked my 2 gallon contribution. I feel very lucky to have done a small part to save lives.
I was the lucky recipient of some random kindness. I was leaving a store, talking on my cell phone and utterly oblivious to my surroundings, when an someone ran after me to hand me a $20 bill that had fallen out of my purse.
I was taken by complete surprise, not so much by the fact that I'd dropped money, but that someone went to the trouble to chase me down and give it back to me! I think I can honestly say that as nice as it was to get my money back, the act of kindness itself was worth even more.
Jenni, we gave blood in VB last week! Ever since you started this blog, I no longer feel bored and antsy while I'm donating. Instead, I think happy thoughts about you and all of the people you've inspired to acts of kindness (random or otherwise), and the time flies by :)
Kari
We had family visiting from Germany and one of our guests left her wallet with money, drivers license etc. on top of a drink machine at the Hermitage. Someone turned it in and when she returned the next day to pick it up she found NOTHING was missing! She was relieved. I was proud.
I had to rearrange my schedule so I could take my husband to a doctor's appointment and one of my co-workers agreed to trade days with me. That meant a lot to me.
I had the same parking situation in Nashville as Amber had in Miami.
Passing on the ticket/space to another person made me feel like I wasn't wasting money and the look of surprise and gratitude on the man's face was more than enough compensation for such little effort.
-Robbie
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