You Are No Different

Earlier this evening I was inspired by this thought as I listened to a minister speak at the annual Red Cross dinner my wife and I attended. As usual I made a few quick notes to keep the thought alive and help me
to remember exactly what I wanted to share with you. I tucked it away in my suit jacket with plans to write this "tomorrow sometime."

I was driven out of bed. It's 12:23 a.m.

Picture in your mind the most incredible thing designed by mankind that you have ever seen. Perhaps the Empire State Building, the Shuttle
built by the technicians at NASA, The Golden Gate Bridge or even the intricate detailing in a painting you've seen.

What name comes to mind when I say the words "creative genius?"

Who do you think of when I mention God-like compassion, caring and loving?

What author's name do you think of when I mention "poetry," "drama," "mystery," "fiction," and "comedy?"

What do you see when I say "strength," and "stamina?"

Finally "winner," "successful," or "role model?"

I'll bet you a Kids Meal at McDonalds you never saw yourself in any of those images. And yet...

Look at your hands.
Are they not the same as the hands of the skillful artist, architect, mason, or technician?

If you were to x-ray your skull, would you not find the same brain matter that takes up the space between the ears of Einstein, Plato, and Disney?

Hold your hand to your chest. Can you feel the beat of a heart capable of paining for the homeless and starving? Have you not the same heart that beat in the chest of Jesus, Gandhi, Mohammed or the thousands of missionaries around the world?

Look at your fingers. Are they not like the fingers of Frost, Churchill, Stevens, Wilder and King that held tightly the pens that wrote the words that shaped the world?

Look at your feet. Show me the difference between yours and gold medalists of the Olympics or the rescuers who carried the people out of
the rubble in Taiwan's tragic earthquake.

Finally. Close your eyes as you stand in front of a mirror and picture in your mind that man or woman who you think of as a success, a winner
and role model. Open your eyes and explain to me the difference between you and that person.

There is no difference...except in how you perceive yourself.

You have the mind, the hands, the feet, the fingers, the heart to be exactly what you want to be. The only thing that is stopping you is the person you see in the mirror.

You have all that it takes.

It's 1:18 A.M. I can sleep now. The rest is up to you.