The Worthless Jacket
This has been a week of eye opening epiphanies. I recorded my video yesterday titled "Unleash your Potential" with the message basically saying, stop talking and start doing. Let me take you on a journey that culminates with my life revelations.
Consider this, you are a poor yet cold young teen, you have to make a decision on how to keep yourself warm. The logical solution that you ascertain is to discretely make your way into a store, try on a jacket, remove tags and walk out. As it turned out the act was that simple. Let's follow that jacket over the course of it's nondescript life.
As the weather warmed the young teen no longer had use for the jacket. Beings he didn't have a financial stake in the acquisition of the garment neither did he have an emotional connection. The jacket did serve a survival purpose but in the big scheme of things it could be easily replaced. With no monetary value the jacket was discarded.
I would like you to stop just a minute and think about life as it relates to something as insignificant as a jacket that was stolen, not purchased. As you well know we all face decisions that under any other circumstances would have different conclusions. However the intrinsic yet primitive need for basic survival can easily overshadow rational thinking. In the spur of the moment our primal instincts are much more powerful than our wants that we so often mask as needs. Once the dire period in life has passed our thinking reverts back to the principal behaviors that our conscience has formed. Then the bigger issue surfaces. With no skin in the game, no investment emotionally or spiritually the ease of indifference almost seems natural. If the jacket were a person it would serve its purpose and be discarded.
If the jacket were a person? Maybe the jacket is a person, maybe you were the jacket or maybe you were the person that discarded the jacket. Just because I used a piece of material as a metaphor please do not discount the value of the story. In life we become so callus to the needs of others as well as the needs of ourselves that we sell who we are to the cheapest bidder or even worse we place ourselves on the clearance rack so close to the door that we make our hearts easy prey to someone trying to steal our hopes and dreams. When life deals us a blow we find out that some view us as rag dolls that can be kicked around and tossed out. That further dampens our ability to escalate our self worth.
Here is the truth. You are not a jacket without value. You are a living breathing miracle that cannot depend on the opinion of others to determine your self worth. You have skin in your game of life. Matter of fact you have blood, sweat, and tears. Why, because it is your life. Within that life comes an emotional and spiritual connection to your soul that ignites the fire in your heart, or does it?
Once the jacket was discarded it was picked up by a poor man that was struggling to feed and cloth his family. His find he figured was a blessing from God. He took the jacket home and gave it to his young daughter. For weeks she hardly left the house because she had little means of keeping warm. Her father was so excited about being able to give his daughter this wonderful gift but not as excited as she was to receive it. The next day she proudly wore it to school. Finally she was able to keep warm as she moved from building to building. Then it happened. Two kids recognized the jacket and knew that it had been tossed out. They laughed at her and called her a dumpster diver for wearing clothing that had been in the garbage. The girl was emotionally embarrassed and reduced to tears. Her life as she knew it was ruined.
The little encounter may seem trivial to some but trust me to the victim it was life or death. Few of us taste our words before we spit them out nor do we care about the implications it has on others. Self esteem, self confidence, and self worth are very fragile elements of life. We can either build people up or tear them down. The sad thing is that we can do both often times without even knowing it. I will let you fill in the blank as to what happen to the young girl. I know how the story ends, but in the game of life thank God we can stop at any time and write a new chapter.
Life is about love, acceptance, happiness, joy, passion. It is about building bridges not fences. Life is not a lesson plan to further your ideological platforms, it is about weaving the fabrics of humanity together to make a beautiful mosaic that accentuates the awesome miraculous creation that resides in us all. There will be times in life to where we must steal to survive. There will be times in life to where we discard that which no longer serves us. There will also be times in life to where we can be the truest expression of love the world has ever seen. I urge each of you to look into your own eyes and once you pass the gateway to the soul focus your attention on the heart that has grown cold. It is time to reignite your passion for living. It is time to set aside the preconceived notions about others and start building on common ground. It is also time to treat others with the same respect you treat yourself. Remember it takes us all to make the world around us beautiful. It starts with a deep desire to grow beyond your current boundaries.
As you reflect on this little story I want you to think about the life of the jacket. There is a hidden gem of wisdom that lies beneath the surface. When you have skin in your game of life, the jacket takes on new meaning and a value to high to be sold or discarded. Your life has meaning, more than you may ever realize. The depth of that meaning becomes evident the moment you choose to live. Now go out and unleash your potential.
peace and love
Dale
Consider this, you are a poor yet cold young teen, you have to make a decision on how to keep yourself warm. The logical solution that you ascertain is to discretely make your way into a store, try on a jacket, remove tags and walk out. As it turned out the act was that simple. Let's follow that jacket over the course of it's nondescript life.
As the weather warmed the young teen no longer had use for the jacket. Beings he didn't have a financial stake in the acquisition of the garment neither did he have an emotional connection. The jacket did serve a survival purpose but in the big scheme of things it could be easily replaced. With no monetary value the jacket was discarded.
I would like you to stop just a minute and think about life as it relates to something as insignificant as a jacket that was stolen, not purchased. As you well know we all face decisions that under any other circumstances would have different conclusions. However the intrinsic yet primitive need for basic survival can easily overshadow rational thinking. In the spur of the moment our primal instincts are much more powerful than our wants that we so often mask as needs. Once the dire period in life has passed our thinking reverts back to the principal behaviors that our conscience has formed. Then the bigger issue surfaces. With no skin in the game, no investment emotionally or spiritually the ease of indifference almost seems natural. If the jacket were a person it would serve its purpose and be discarded.
If the jacket were a person? Maybe the jacket is a person, maybe you were the jacket or maybe you were the person that discarded the jacket. Just because I used a piece of material as a metaphor please do not discount the value of the story. In life we become so callus to the needs of others as well as the needs of ourselves that we sell who we are to the cheapest bidder or even worse we place ourselves on the clearance rack so close to the door that we make our hearts easy prey to someone trying to steal our hopes and dreams. When life deals us a blow we find out that some view us as rag dolls that can be kicked around and tossed out. That further dampens our ability to escalate our self worth.
Here is the truth. You are not a jacket without value. You are a living breathing miracle that cannot depend on the opinion of others to determine your self worth. You have skin in your game of life. Matter of fact you have blood, sweat, and tears. Why, because it is your life. Within that life comes an emotional and spiritual connection to your soul that ignites the fire in your heart, or does it?
Once the jacket was discarded it was picked up by a poor man that was struggling to feed and cloth his family. His find he figured was a blessing from God. He took the jacket home and gave it to his young daughter. For weeks she hardly left the house because she had little means of keeping warm. Her father was so excited about being able to give his daughter this wonderful gift but not as excited as she was to receive it. The next day she proudly wore it to school. Finally she was able to keep warm as she moved from building to building. Then it happened. Two kids recognized the jacket and knew that it had been tossed out. They laughed at her and called her a dumpster diver for wearing clothing that had been in the garbage. The girl was emotionally embarrassed and reduced to tears. Her life as she knew it was ruined.
The little encounter may seem trivial to some but trust me to the victim it was life or death. Few of us taste our words before we spit them out nor do we care about the implications it has on others. Self esteem, self confidence, and self worth are very fragile elements of life. We can either build people up or tear them down. The sad thing is that we can do both often times without even knowing it. I will let you fill in the blank as to what happen to the young girl. I know how the story ends, but in the game of life thank God we can stop at any time and write a new chapter.
Life is about love, acceptance, happiness, joy, passion. It is about building bridges not fences. Life is not a lesson plan to further your ideological platforms, it is about weaving the fabrics of humanity together to make a beautiful mosaic that accentuates the awesome miraculous creation that resides in us all. There will be times in life to where we must steal to survive. There will be times in life to where we discard that which no longer serves us. There will also be times in life to where we can be the truest expression of love the world has ever seen. I urge each of you to look into your own eyes and once you pass the gateway to the soul focus your attention on the heart that has grown cold. It is time to reignite your passion for living. It is time to set aside the preconceived notions about others and start building on common ground. It is also time to treat others with the same respect you treat yourself. Remember it takes us all to make the world around us beautiful. It starts with a deep desire to grow beyond your current boundaries.
As you reflect on this little story I want you to think about the life of the jacket. There is a hidden gem of wisdom that lies beneath the surface. When you have skin in your game of life, the jacket takes on new meaning and a value to high to be sold or discarded. Your life has meaning, more than you may ever realize. The depth of that meaning becomes evident the moment you choose to live. Now go out and unleash your potential.
peace and love
Dale
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