Last year, for many, was possibly the roughest year they have faced. Some of the stories I've heard would make my year seem like a vacation to Disney World.
For instance:
Last night at 4pm, my step father-in-law, called everyone into his office, all 100 of his employees, and informed them that due to the financial problems the company has faced, it will be forced to shut it's doors and as of right now, they were all let go. HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Man, that is a bad day for so many, and as we spoke about it, this gruff, giant of a man, opened up and with glistening eyes, muttered" That was the hardest thing i have ever done." Then walked away, head down, quietly sobbing.
And a dear friend of mine I lost contact with for quite some time shared this story with me about his wife:
She was a special Police Officer responding to a 911 call when she lost control of her cruiser on the wet road. She struck a tree on the driver side door. I am a Firefighter in the same area and our company received the alarm for the accident, my Squad was first to arrive and I could see it was her as we pulled up. I crawled into the car and tried to evoke some response and to assess her injuries. It took us 58 minutes to cut her out of the vehicle and en route to the trauma center. She spent 3 days in a coma from the head trauma. I made the decision to let her go on Sept 30. Before she left us she donated her Heart, Liver, and both Kidneys saving 4 lives. We have been Married 15 years and have 2 Daughters ages 14 and 11. She was our world our souls our LIFE.
These stories are every where and I know all of you have them, so take a moment, do what you need to do to get past this, then let's focus on what we can do, together, Now!
Lets take from these experiences and everything else we have been through and use that to be better today, tomorrow and in the upcoming year. We all have lots of work to do and like many, we will be very busy in all aspects of our life. We must remain committed though to our selves and to what we value, and if you can align that with your goals, then you will do just fine.
2009 for me, promises to be a year of rebuilding. I start a new job on Monday, with that comes a lot of responsibility, dedication, and time. I am moving in with family, along with my wife and kids to be of assistance to them and use the situation to better our own. I have made some great contacts and plan to use the resources we have hear at CitiZen Zen in order to direct our efforts in a more coordinated, structured manner and will have plans laid out by the end of the month to fund and run CitiZen Zen as a true non profit should. I will solicate the assistance of some of you to be leaders, and help guide us on our journey. I know that we are all busy, family focused people and i will continue to respect that. All I ask for is 4 hours a month. Break it down to an hour a week and that is a piece of cake. We can all do that, and it will pay off in the end.
CitiZen Zen relies on all of you to do one thing, and that is inspire. So I challenge anyone who truly embraces what it is to be a CitiZen Zen and participate in our daily blog, enlist others to join the cause, and get out in your neighborhoods and make a difference. The rewards are endless, and I promise you that if we can do what we set out to do , we stick to our four principles:
* Be ready and available to serve the community in any way…
* Strengthen the community by offering up your skills and talents for everyone to use…
* Educate your community with your knowledge, freely give it....
* Instill good moral values in others by living them and modeling kindness and generosity, everyday...
and we continue to extend our hand out where ever it is needed, than we will make notable changes in all that we do.
Happy New Year everyone!
Wow, what a first post! Sounds as if you had a very challenging, but also very inspiring and rewarding, 2008. As my dear friend Reya Mellicker (thegoldpuppy.blogspot.com) would say, "onwards & upwards" in 2009! Thanks for visiting The Bodhi Tree earlier today. It was a pleasure to visit here. I'll be back soon!
ReplyDeleteI know I am too late, really, but as I only got to know you recently, I read your former blogs and feel very good when I do. Carry on, you will ertainly have more to tell soon!
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