Recently I was googling Individual
Worth in search for a proper definition to use in one of my posts. As I went searching I pulled up a few blog
sites with inspiring stories which I would like to share and reference.
I came across an object lesson given
by Stephanie Waite in which she laid out various belongings on a table and
asked her class what each object was worth and what made them valuable. Some of the objects were perhaps expensive
things and some objects may have been more valuable to one than to
another. But the particular object that
may have seemed worthless to most individuals was probably the most valuable
thing on the table in the eyes of its initial owner.
It actually reminded me of an object
that is close to Jenna – a stuffed dog she’s had since she was 6 months old –
though the toy itself looks like he’s been around much longer than she has.
It’s been restuffed twice and has had matted hair cut off – never to grow back
again. But Jenna loves it. It’s her baby. It’s her lifelong friend.
Recently she allowed her cousin to
“borrow” it – a huge sacrifice on her part.
But Kayla (my sister) was not all that thrilled about inviting Jenna’s
beat up toy (which really is clean – but appears to be unkempt) into her house
and chose to leave it in the trunk of her car.
What makes something or someone
valuable? Love? The kind of love that makes you valuable no
matter what. No matter how beaten or
ratty (inside or out) I loved her
post. I loved her explanation. And you can read the full post here.
Stephanie’s last post referred me to another
blog. I read a post that could fall into
the category of Choice and Accountability.
What a tough decision to be made – and yet what remarkable faith and
strength that would help so many others.
Collin Presley had health problems
from the time he was born. He outlived
his disease by twelve years (from my understanding) but died shortly after a
new medication was given.
Their first thought was to sue the
doctor. Collin still had life with the
old medication. Surely someone had to
blamed for Collin’s death – but an autopsy would have to be preformed to
provide proof. Doing an autopsy would
upset the organs which the family wanted to donate to those who were still
fighting the fight. A battle with attorneys
would have been so costly. It wouldn’t
bring Collin back. On the flip side his
organs could be donated and bring life to others. That was the choice they faced. You can read more of their story in this post though I
recommend venturing even further with prior posts
Katy Pluim amazes me with her short
sweet posts as she deals with having only one arm. I am so impressed with the things that she has taught herself that I struggle with having two arms. She is a beautiful person with a husband and a three year old (almost three) daughter. Here is one of her earlier posts on dealing.
Unfortunately I did not copy the reference
for this next story. I tried going back
to my initial research and to Google–ing with the given subject, but more sites
were brought up than I cared to wade through.
My apologies to the blogger (though there are many more resources for
this particular story:
“More than one hour after the gold-medal
athlete had crossed the finish line during the marathon in the 1968 Summer
Olympics in Mexico City, John Stephen Akhwari of Tanzamia entered the
stadium. Only a few spectators remained
as the lone runner appeared. The
athlete’s leg was injured and bleeding.
He was dehydrated and confuse. As
he crossed the finish line, the small crowd cheered in appreciation for what
would become one of the most famous last-place finishes in history. But it
wasn’t the runner’s performance that caught their attention – and the attention
of thousands more during the almost five decades since. It was his desire to finish the race, to
endure to the end. After the event in
1968, a reporter asked the runner why he had not quit the race since he had no
chance of winning. The Tanzanian athlete was confused. “My country did not send me to Mexico City to
start the race,” he replied. “They sent
me to finish”
I actually shared this next story in
Relief Society when the instructor asked the class for comments about
Integrity. What goes around comes
around. I think this is a really great
example.
And finally one idea to teach in
classrooms – though children are more accepting and perhaps this ought to be
applied to all adults as well Stop the
bullying already. We are all different.
Embrace the differences.
How great it is to have so many great
insights and so many who support one another through their blogs and create
ideas and share. Thank you!
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