Positive culture is valued and embraced in most organizations. Within our agency, the positive culture initiative we promote is Good Life. One of the basic principles of Good Life is self-assessment and discovering what kind of heart you have. Your heart sets the tone for the relationships you develop, how you approach life, and how you live your life. Your heart is a gift, to be shared freely with others, and it can have an enormous impact in others’ lives. In fact, if you make a difference in just one person’s life, you have shared your gift and offered hope to the world.
Most of us could likely share a story of how someone has made a difference in our lives. I was able to experience this last weekend when I heard this beautiful story…a story of compassion and hope. It’s not a story about the field of developmental disabilities, a certain school, or even certain people, but rather a story of humanity.
A group of high school girls, 14-16 years old, met at McDonald’s prior to a Friday night football game. One of the last girls to arrive pulled into a parking space and happened to notice a woman crying in the car next to her. She went in and told her friends what she had seen, and they talked briefly about what they should do. What they did in the next few minutes was a simple, yet powerful act of kindness to another human being.
The girls, six of them, knocked on the window of the crying woman, who was maybe middle-aged. She rolled down the window, tears steaming, and just looked at them. The girls asked if she was alright and if she needed any help. She told them she would be okay and was just going through a difficult time right now. The girls then asked what her name was, because they would like to pray for her. She told them her name and the girls wished her well, told her that she was loved and they would pray for her. They then went back inside the restaurant and shared a meal and friendship. As they left, they found a note on one of their cars. The woman they had approached, for just a few minutes, had penned a beautiful letter to them. She told them they were angels sent to her, and she thanked them for their caring hearts and for loving a complete stranger. She asked them to never lose those qualities as they grow into adulthood.
In a world with so much hate, animosity, and apathy, stories like this show that goodness and love really do conquer all. The hearts of a group of high school girls proved that, this time. Tomorrow will be a different story, with different people, and different experiences. What story will you encounter, or perhaps even write? What is your heart? I promise you that there is someone in this world who will benefit from the gift of your heart.