The Unwanted Are Wanted

"Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat." -Mother Teresa

It has been said by my kids that I have a greater social media presence than all of them put together. I'm still not certain if that's a complement or not. But I will admit that I am tweeting, blogging and on Facebook quite a bit.

If you are on Twitter long enough, you will notice there are certain "followers" that are not necessarily the type you want following you. Normally they are spam porn and the normal "junk mail" folks that come with any type of media. Its relatively easy to spot, avoid or block. Just the kind of attention that is quite unwanted.

The problem that arises is that there are many folks out there that truly feel unwanted. They are isolated either by circumstance or choice. Those people are like a sheep separated from the herd. This separation makes the sheep vulnerable to wolves.

You may think I am over reacting in making that statement, but when we are isolated and unwanted, we are prime targets for the wolves. That is what the rogue Twitter followers and the like are looking for. They are trolling for people that are in search of being wanted. Once hooked, the fangs of these people will sink in deep and painfully.

Wow...not really a great way to think about starting out the new year.

The reality is that there are many people that really do feel unwanted, unloved or unneeded. All they are searching for is connection to something good for their life. And this is where you and I can come into the picture of their lives.

We can make connections to these people, even if in a small way. We may not even realize those folks are feeling unwanted. Which means that everyone we come in contact with is potentially one of the separated sheep.

Now I am not saying that you should treat everyone as a project or as someone in need. What I am saying is that you should treat everyone you run into with grace, gratitude and respect. This will start a process in that person's life which will change things dramatically for them. It will be a positive connection as opposed the bad connections that are out there constantly looking to swallow them up.

Use every day, every contact, every interaction as a means to give others the opportunity to remove the separation. You will be the one to light their way, and to help them feel wanted. It starts with connection, it starts with you, it starts by wanting to be a positive influence in the lives of others.

Stay inspired my friends.

Being the best Streetsweeper

“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.” -Martin Luther King, Jr. quotes

We each will have the opportunity to to great things with what we have in life. While we may want to have greater success, greater abilities and greater impact on the world, we have to be good at what we do now.

Being the best at what we do now creates an atmosphere, a learned characteristic, that will allow us to properly handle our accomplishments in life. Without it, we will simply waste anything that we do gain because we will not know how to handle that success.

So take what you are doing today, be the best that you can be with it. As your dreams come true, turn those accomplishments into even greater things in your life. When all is said and done, people will remark "here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well."

Have a great 2012 year and stay inspired my friends.

Family