Looking For Amazing
There’s so much media about people and situations gone bad—it can feel like we’re living in hell. Not that we should put our hands over our ears and repeat, “la, la, la, la, la” over and over. We learn by our mistakes. Like Albert Einstein said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
Life is a balance. And one of the things I do to remind myself about how amazing people are is to ask them, “How do people be amazing?” Here’s one of the answers I got. “A friend of mine was serving in Afghanistan and got hit with eleven bullets: nine in his body armor and two in his leg.”
I don’t know about you, but when you are not in a war zone and you hear about soldiers in combat, and what happens to them—it already changes the perspective. And I was hoping against hope that this story would turn out well. Let’s face it, I LOVE HAPPY ENDINGS!
“He was flown back to the US to a military hospital. The surgeons performed a number of operations on his leg trying and save it. But he continued to lie in bed—month after month. For over two years he lay there! Every time he tried to stand up and walk, his leg collapsed and they had to perform another surgery.”
By this time, I am holding my breath, hoping against hope that finally, one of the surgeries will work and he walks out of hospital. But it was not to be. “One day, another young soldier came into the ward and had his leg amputated. Much later, he was able to walk out…and my friend was still lying in bed. So he decided there and then to have his leg taken off.”
It was a shock to hear this story. I was expecting a different ending. To decide to have your leg taken off didn’t make sense—except it made all the sense in the world—he had been lying in a hospital bed for two years expecting different results. His shot-up leg was keeping him down. Now, after his courageous decision he is walking and running around and MOBILE!
Later that day I met the teller of this story one more time; we were in an elevator and he said, “You know the fastest way to lose 35lbs?” I said no. “Lose your leg.” He laughed. “That’s the joke my friend tells everyone.”
I chuckled. The choices I have to make are small in comparison to losing a leg. Pay the minimum on the credit card, or add a bit more and pay it off sooner? Let’s face it. Most of us have fairly small choices—yet we make them so important—so worrisome. Let’s live up to the standards of people who are making really difficult choices to be AMAZING and make every day an AMAZING one. Let’s stop sweating the small stuff and just be great.