This Magic Monday, we think about the question “What am I doing for others?”
In a blog post from The Story of Stuff Project, they conveyed a scene from “Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63.” They share the moment African-American civil rights leader and organizer E.D. Nixon first contacted Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., seeking his endorsement with the plan of a bus boycott after the recent arrest of Rosa Parks. The author of the blog post reports that King’s words were, “Brother Nixon, let me think about it, and you call me back.”
The focal point of the blog reflected on the question of what occurred within the Reverend’s mind during that period before receiving the return call later that day? What thought process eventually led to the organization of the Montgomery Bus Boycott?
There is something that occurs within the minds of most people when faced with a difficult circumstance, which forces them to decide between “What could happen to me if I get involved?” versus, “What could be the outcome if I don’t?”
This dilemma is so real that it’s a prominent decision in fiction. Think of Tolkien’s Frodo Baggins, Lewis’ Lucy Pevensie, or practically every Superhero ever penned to paper, and they all have one thing in common:
Action. Fictional or Historical, they decided to get involved.
Vulnerability and shame researcher, Brené Brown, likens such a courageous act to something most people would not see as such: the literal vulnerability of getting back up time and again after being beaten down in a fighting arena. Feeling the fear— and doing it anyway.
Perhaps you find yourself faced with such a dilemma? Doubt is certainly real, and sometimes for a good reason, but the truth is, that no matter how much time you spend analyzing each possible outcome, nothing will change until you take action. I invite you to take that first step today. For your clients; your community; your loved ones; for yourself. Feel the fear, and do it anyway.
Fittingly, I leave the last word today to Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’”