Doing The Correct Work - What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?

I find this excerpt from the book "Repacking your bags" inspiring to those who are looking for courage to do the correct work. 


The late John Williamson was a Harvard-educated, articulate spokesman for lifelong learning and new educational technologies. As a senior executive with Wilson Learning Corporation he mingled with the leading thinkers on change and leadership. Richard J. Leider (co-author of the book) remembers John like this: I knew him as a friend, a colleague, and in his last eighteen months as a client, as he fought valiantly against his cancer while simultaneously envisioning his future. During that time, I often flashed back to scenes of him backpacking and interacting with the Maasai in Africa, so curious, so alive. Just one day away from the end of his life, he talked about his impending losses. 


I sat by his bed, holding his hand. He laughed and wept unshamedly as he talked about our work together. Staring out the window, struggling to see with his one remaining good eye, he said to me, "I always thought God had a plan for me to do something special in this life but I never really found out what it was. I feel as if I never really found out who I wanted to be when I grew up." The statement penetrated my core. We wept together as he encouraged my work. "Push them to make a difference," he said, "and don't let them off the hook." 


He died the next day. John's words are a reminder to us that beyond all else is the driving need for each of us to "make a difference," to believe our lives have counted. 


I hope these words from the book will encourage anyone of you out there, who chanced upon my blog, to re-look into the work that you do, or the work that you intend to do, so that you can make a difference in this world