Maybe you are better than you think you are. Maybe you are a welcome treat or surprise for someone. Maybe God created you as you are to teach someone.

Value is in the eye of the beholder, like beauty. Everyone can do something. Find your something. Find your value. It is there. Just find it.

Society does not care if you find it. It might be preferable if you do not, then you will fall in line with society’s teachings. Everyone is buying and selling for their reason. Are you buying what they are selling?

As I tell my Sunday school kids, everybody can do a little and it adds up. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Find your value. It is there. Just find it. All your efforts and others add up….value multiplied. Just find your value. It is there. Just find it.

We learn the basics of kindness and humanity when we are young. These children were taught it. They knew the right answer because they were taught it. We all know the right answer and then spend the rest of our life unlearning it and then defending our positions. ???
]]> http://multiplesclerosishopeforallmyblog.wordpress.com/2012/02/11/the-right-answer/feed/ 0 dodgerkim4 http://multiplesclerosishopeforallmyblog.wordpress.com/2012/02/10/your-strength/ http://multiplesclerosishopeforallmyblog.wordpress.com/2012/02/10/your-strength/#comments Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:07:22 +0000 dodgerkim4 http://multiplesclerosishopeforallmyblog.wordpress.com/?p=727 Continue reading →]]> If you stink at math, would you consider being a mathematician? If you hate English, would you like to be a writer?

Everyone has their God given gift. Everyone has their strength. Did you ever say…I’m really good at that! There is your gift.

I often say…good thing walking is not my best ability. Well,  my gift is writing or communications. I can listen. I was trained at Rutgers. I’ve worked on undergraduate and graduate degrees there. I’ve taken communication courses, English and public speaking. I knew my gift in high school.

We all have gifts. What is yours?

Work toward strengthening your gift. Your gift fits nicely into the puzzle of life. You are needed. You are important. Your gift is needed.

Yesterday, I was very sad. I did not know why. About a hour or 2 later, I realized it. I was put in a position to feel needy, helpless. Now, I try to be independent.

I am not stupid. I realize my husband does a lot and takes care of things that are too much for me. I try to do all that I can. As a woman in a scooter, I try not to let it stop me. I open my own doors. I do everything I can. I realize if I do all I can…God will do the rest.

Yesterday, I was at Sunday school. I had a small dry erase board that I was going to use as a blackboard. There are no longer blackboards in the classroom. Now, there are smartboards. We can not write on them. Using the dry erase board, I can achieve my purpose and  not have to get up.

I was told yesterday that I could not hide the dry erase board in my classroom. It had to go upstairs. I no longer walk stairs, so everytime to use it I’d have to depend on someone else to get it for me. This took away my independence and this upset me. I felt very helpless.

Today, I got on the phone and said…if I can not keep the dry erase board in the classroom, I will carry it on my scooter every Sunday. I will have it with me when I need it. I do not like being put in a position of helplessness. I refuse to be put in this position.

Where you ever right before? Stupid question, right? How did it feel when you were right?

This is why others judge you. They want this feeling of being right. People think being right is limited. They think … if they are right, others are wrong and they want that feeling of being right and they can deprive others of being right. Maybe they want the feeling of being better than you and this might do it. It is a very limited thought process that a lot of people have. It is a facade of thoughts and happiness. Any feeling of joy stolen from this process is short lived.

This is an extreme example of wanting to feel better, so someone will make others feel worse.

There was a 10 year old boy who used to pick on other kids younger than him. I stopped him many times from acting this way and I wondered why he did this. I then found out he did this action. He pee peed his pants when he was younger and the other kids made fun of him when he was little for this behavior. SO, nowadays he made fun of little lids because I guess this made him feel better.

I call this the Bully Syndrome.

Life seems to be a seesaw of emotions. People think others have to be on the bottom so they can be on the top.

I am in a wheelchair scooter and I usually open my own door to go into stores or places. I held the door open for a walking person the other day. Someone said to me yesterday, “let me hold the door for you.” I thanked them and replied…people like you are not always around to hold the door open SO I usually open my own doors. It is a good answer. The truth is I like opening my own doors.

For me, doing this action myself is empowering. I do not have to sit and wait for someone to hold the door for me. I can do it myself.

Maybe for you the door is challenging, find your empowerment somewhere else. Make it fit for you. The door is not the answer. The empowerment is the answer. Do what you can do. Reach up and achieve more. Stretch a little. Everyday I believe in doing the best I can. If I’m tired, rest is important for me. If I can achieve something each day, I can achieve lots- little by little. Again…it all adds up. Forward actions add up!

The answer is do what you can do. Stretch little by little. It all adds up.

Sometimes life seems so BIG. It seems too out of reach and too BIG to accomplish. The old saying is How do you eat an elephant?  one bite at a time. When a project is too BIG, I try to remember this saying.

The same goes for helping. Just do a little bit. A little bit is better than nothing. If everyone does a little bit, BIG things can happen because it all adds up. I explained to my 1st grade Sunday school…just do a little. If you do a little and someone else does a little, it all adds up. I explained how I donated can goods the other day. It was no great shakes, but I did a little. I’m trying to teach them the joy of helping others. I think they are getting it and rejoicing in this accomplishment for themselves.

The same goes for you…just a little. It all adds up to BIG things. Just a little.

I taught Sunday School yesterday. The class was prayers. I taught the children they could pray a Hail Mary type prayer or Just talk to God. I asked them what are they grateful for…some replied bikes, toys, etc. Then I asked does anyone here live in a house or have a roof over their head? Raise your hand. They all did. Does anyone here have food to eat or water or a beverage to drink? They all raised their hands. Now, I thought for a second if I’d thought I’d get a no to any of these answers… I would have not asked the questions and would have dealt with their need.

I wanted to make my children think and they did. We went around the room and I asked for their gratitude again. I got answers like houses, food, water, parents, education, etc this time. They thought. Now as a child I might have thought about toys, but it all starts somewhere.

As an adult, I want to say Thank you to a friends’ father who died. After thinking, I realize  he had a bigger impact on my life than I realized. I’ll explain.

I realize now what a big impact Albert Westpfal had on my life.

He told his daughter and me to go to go see Bob Feller, the Indians Hall of Fame pitcher. Bob passed in the last year or so. At the time, I really did not know who Bob Feller was. Al Westpfal explained it to me and his daughter,Karen, the significance of Bob Feller’s baseball career. We went and got the autograph and met Bob Feller. This was the first baseball player I met and got his autograph. I have met hundreds since then. This was my first baseball card show. I have been to hundreds since then. This was my first because of Al.  Out of the Baseball Hall of Famers, I met all but about 10 out of about 75. I met my husband and my best friend at a baseball card show. As you might know, I love baseball and so did Al. This all started with Al Westpfal. Thank you, Al. I did not realize he had such a great impact on my life. At the time, I was just a dumb 20 some year old. He was very kind and patient with me.

Fortunately, within the last year or so the phone # of Al popped in my head. I could not remember who the phone # belonged to. I dialed it and he answered. I apologized for any wrong doing  I might have done as a dumb 20 something year old. He was kind and accepted. He said he always thought of me like a daughter and treated me like one. He did. I explained about my friendship with Duke Snider since 2000 and wanted to do something for Al to express my gratitude to him. I sent him an autographed Duke baseball that I knew he’d enjoy. It was nice when I did this…it was giving back to a man who did so much for me.

When my friend Duke Snider died, Al was the first one to contact me and express his sympathy of Duke’s passing. He heard about Duke’s passing on the news.

Thanks Al for everything you did for me. I’m so glad I got to apologize to you and express my gratitude to you in person on the phone. Thank you for your patience with me through the years. You made a great difference in my life. I appreciate it.

This also makes me think of a friend who said to me one time…Kim, I do not want to talk about the past. Well, I think the past leads us to a bridge to our future. It did in this case. I think Al knew this. Thanks again, Al.

I met my friend, Zoe Nicholson, at Rollins College. Zoe is an activist and a feminist. Zoe fasted for over a month for Women’s Rights. She was honored at Rollins College by the Deans, faculty and staff, and students for her activities behalf of society. There were other feminists/activists there that day with Zoe. They were going to be further honored at an exclusive luncheon. What did Zoe do? She passes the exclusive luncheon to honor her and the other femists/activists and had lunch with the students instead. She sat next to me.

She was very welcoming. The students asked questions of her. She listened. She answered many questions. She was delightful and had a big impact on many including me.

Zoe and I became Facebook friends. Zoe writes about friends and family and MOVEMENTS. I had never seen this before. She opened my mind. I enjoy/enjoyed seeing her writings.

I praised her recently for making me think. She replied by telling me I have answers. I thought about her reply and said to myself…well than I better share them. Hence, I write. Thank you, Zoe.