What price a life?

Was in a city the other day which had a major disruption due to a person threatening to jump from a tall building.  Multiple police cars, 2 fire trucks, 2 ambulance, streets cordoned off…

I heard someone say that that’s a lot of effort to go to for someone who wants to jump.

And rightly so – a life is precious.

Reminds me of the frightened man huddling with a shotgun on a city street described so well by Mitch Albom in Have a Little Faith.  That particular man went to lead an amazing life, focused on others and caring for those forgotten by the system.

You just never can tell, can you?

What’s not to give? The story of ‘N’ (well a v small part of it).

This amazing person is a former refugee from an uncredibly horrible situation, she single handedly brought up her now 19 YO daughter 8 or 9 nears in refugee canps, she has spent all her life giving, she has hardly any money, she spends a lot of her spare time at aged care nursing home working for a pittance – she’s supposed to be just cooking, but she can’t help herself, so she tells the residents stories and helps them – she told us stories of neglect and sadness of the residents – she saved up some money bought some ingredients and cooked a lovely chocolate cake for the residents (they literally live for the days she works so that they get interesting and varied food) – she left it in the refrigerator and it was stolen by a member of staff overnight…

She believes in happiness – no I mean, really believes in it.  She’s unbelievably inspiring.

What story are you telling with your actions and words?

[Photo credit: United Nations Photo]

If not now then when?

How passionate are you about your work, your life?

Do you live and breathe your life and your work?

Are you passionate about what you’re doing with your life, right now?

Do you jump out of bed each morning itching to get started on the day?

Maybe we should take a lesson from this little man.  A childlike enthusiasm counts for so much in business and in life generally.

If you’re not passionate about what you’re doing, if you can’t wait to keep doing it, then change, now.

If not now, then when?

Realistic optimism always outplays blind hope


The people who died first in the Concentration camps in Nazi Germany were the ones who held on to misplaced hope – ‘we’ll be out by Christmas’ – Christmas came and then went, and with it went their hope. Read Viktor Frankl’s ‘Man’s search for meaning‘ and Weary Dunlop’s War Diaries to get a challenging but amazing insight into all of this and how true meaning in one’s life makes all the difference.

Don’t blindly hope for better relationships with your people, a better job, more happiness, a better life… Be realistic about what today actually holds.

But then be cautiously optimistic about the future, and of course, do all that you can to influence what happens, and in particular how you react to it. That’s where the difference is made – in that tiny millisecond between what happens to you and how you choose to respond to it.

(Photo credit: Viktor Frankl – Paranormal.se)