Sometimes You Have To Get It To Get It

42 floors, 809 steps, 100% effort until you collapse... Who wouldn't want to climb the Corning Tower? Once each year the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF) puts the Corning Tower race on to benefit the people who are suffering with Cystic Fibrosis.

I'd done it two times prior to this year because, as the cliché goes: it was there. As I signed up, wrote a check to the CFF and scheduled it in my calendar I got thinking that I didn't even know what in the world CF was.

I read about it and became upset as I thought about how people suffer so. Well days, weeks and my upset quickly passed and last night was the race. I don't know my time but let me just say, I never stopped and climbed as fast as I could go. Good job, Ron! Thanks.

When I reached the top I staggered to an open space, collapsed onto my hands and knees and struggled for my breath for about 5 minutes. The dust (and ???) in the stairwells gets deep into people's lungs as they exert and creates havoc for for the competitors trying to breathe for a few hours to a few days after.

On my hands and knees, literally gasping for air, for those few minutes-I got it. CF creates severe symptoms including lung infections that make breathing difficult...oftentimes unto death. I knew I'd recover in minutes. Many will never recover.

Some runners will have just enjoyed their time, some will give more to CFF in hopes of a cure. Both are fine. I'm grateful that I was forced to pause-and in that moment connect a bit deeper, through my temporary suffering, with my own humanity and with those whose suffering will not subside so quickly.

Grateful for Health,

RR

Oh the Humility!

Sometime in early November 2010 I wrote an email to Chris Brogan, a dude that I like/respect because he seems pretty darn real and yet a big-time rock star in the social media world.

Well, on a whim I decided, "I'm really cool myself. This dude should know who I am!" So I sent him an email; I hoped to create a connection.

Fine.

Well, as this wasn't a concerted action, more of a throw spaghetti against the wall deal, I completely forgot that I sent the email at all.

About two weeks later I received this:

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Howdy Ron,

You wrote:

"Son of a...! My email box is so full of your great posts/blogs that I can't keep up. Seriously, your stuff rocks and is so informative, real and immediately helpful. I can't delete one until I've read it and understand what you're saying.

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Well I became giddy! I thought something to the effect of, "First of all, this guy sounds just like me when he writes. Dude, thinks my stuff is good!!! Well, my posts are really real and I do try to be helpful. Wow, what cool feedback from a guy who really knows!!!!"

I not only failed to read the part that says, "You wrote:" but also missed the fact that it sounded so much like me because it was me! The "you" in "You wrote" was me!!! I wrote!

I went from puffed up with pride to quite humble...and amused in about .34 seconds!

Lessons? Gosh, I don't know... Read what you're reading? Recognize your own writing?

I don't know what to say except that I'm still laughing at myself...

RR

Hard-won Respect

I remember hearing Dr. Laura (radio and TV commentator) grousing about the fact that we give so much praise to the kids who were on drugs and then stop, while we tend to not praise or celebrate those kids who never start doing drugs. I get what she said!

She's got a point for sure. We tend to celebrate the recovery of one lost sheep (as in the bible story) while just assuming that the other 99 should be good. It's easy to give the squeaky wheel grease and miss the good work and lives of the '99'.

We've all got 'the 99' in our lives -those who tow the line, who do the right thing, who are just trying to be and do the right thing. I'm going to take a look around me today and tell some of those people how much I appreciate them -who I know them to be. Why should I wait? How much longer until they've earned my words of appreciation?

Today's the day!

RR