Wonderful Stories

WowCoach(tm)
DeskTopCoaching
September 24, 2001

In this Issue:
1.  Quote of the Week
2.  The Gift of Love
3.  The Story of Friendship

Welcome to the weekly edition of DeskTopCoaching. This
newsletter is designed to bring coaching into YOUR life.  Through
thought provoking articles, strong questions, and requests for weekly
action, we will bring a coaching slant to your life.

How do we make changes in our lives?  One step at a time!
Participate in the concepts of the newsletter and watch the shifts
begin to happen.

Our network grows by your referrals.  Please feel free to send
copies of the newsletter to friends and colleagues.

Have a wonderful week.

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Where there is great love there are always miracles.
                                  Willa Cather

Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create
the fact.
                                  William James

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The Gift of Love

The passengers on the bus watched sympathetically as the
attractive young woman with the white cane made her way carefully
up the steps. She paid the driver and, using her hands to feel the
location of the seats, walked down the aisle and found the seat
he'd told her was empty. Then she settled in, placed her briefcase
on her lap and rested her cane against her leg.

It had been a year since Susan, 34, became blind. Due to a medical
misdiagnosis she had been rendered sightless, and she was suddenly
thrown into a world of darkness, anger, frustration and self-pity.
Once a fiercely independent woman, Susan now felt condemned by
this terrible twist of fate to become a powerless, helpless burden
on everyone around her.

"How could this have happened to me?" she would plead, her heart 
knotted with anger.

But no matter how much she cried or ranted or prayed, she knew the
painful truth her sight was never going to return. A cloud of
depression hung over Susan's once optimistic spirit. Just getting
through each day was an exercise in frustration and exhaustion.
And all she had to cling to was her husband Mark.

Mark was an Air Force officer and he loved Susan with all of his
heart. When she first lost her sight, he watched her sink into
despair and was determined to help his wife gain the strength and
confidence she needed to become independent again. Mark's military 
background had trained him well to deal with sensitive situations,
and yet he know this was the most difficult battle he would ever
face.

Finally, Susan felt ready to return to her job, but how would she
get there? She used to take the bus, but was now too frightened to
get around the city by herself. Mark volunteered to drive her to
work each day, even though they worked at opposite ends of the
city. At first, this comforted Susan and fulfilled Mark's need to
protect his sightless wife who was so insecure about performing
the slightest task.

Soon, however, Mark realized that this arrangement wasn't working
- it was hectic, and costly. Susan is going to have to start
taking the bus again, he admitted to himself. But just the thought
of mentioning it to her made him cringe. She was still so fragile,
so angry. How would she react? Just as Mark predicted, Susan was
horrified at the idea of taking the bus again.

"I'm blind!" she responded bitterly. "How am I supposed to know
where I'm going? I feel like you're abandoning me."

Mark's heart broke to hear these words, but he knew what had to be
done. He promised Susan that each morning and evening he would
ride the bus with her, for as long as it took, until she got the
hang of it. And that is exactly what happened.

For two solid weeks, Mark, military uniform and all, accompanied
Susan to and from work each day. He taught her how to rely on her
other senses, specifically her hearing, to determine where she was
and how to adapt to her new environment. He helped her befriend
the bus drivers who could watch out for her, and save her a seat.
He made her laugh, even on those not-so-good days when she would
trip exiting the bus, or drop her briefcase.

Each morning they made the journey together, and Mark would take a
cab back to his office. Although this routine was even more costly
and exhausting than the previous one, Mark knew it was only a
matter of time before Susan would be able to ride the bus on her
own. He believed in her, in the Susan he used to know before she'd
lost her sight, who wasn't afraid of any challenge and who would
never, ever quit.

Finally, Susan decided that she was ready to try the trip on her
own. Monday morning arrived, and before she left, she threw her
arms around Mark, her temporary bus riding companion, her husband,
and her best friend. Her eyes filled with tears of gratitude for
his loyalty, his patience, his love. She said good-bye, and for
the first time, they went their separate ways.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday . . . each day on her own
went perfectly, and Susan had never felt better. She was doing
it! She was going to work all by herself!

On Friday morning, Susan took the bus to work as usual. As she was
paying for her fare to exit the bus, the driver said,

"Boy, I sure envy you."

Susan wasn't sure if the driver was speaking to her or not. After
all, who on earth would ever envy a blind woman who had struggled
just to find the courage to live for the past year? Curious, she
asked the driver,

"Why do you say that you envy me?"

The driver responded, "It must feel so good to be taken care of
and protected like you are."

Susan had no idea what the driver was talking about, and asked 
again,

"What do you mean?"

The driver answered, "You know, every morning for the past week, a
fine looking gentleman in a military uniform has been standing
across the corner watching you when you get off the bus. He makes
sure you cross the street safely and he watches you until you
enter your office building. Then he blows you a kiss, gives you a
little salute and walks away. You are one lucky lady."

Tears of happiness poured down Susan's cheeks. For although she
couldn't physically see him, she had always felt Mark's presence.
She was lucky, so lucky, for he had given her a gift more powerful
than sight, a gift she didn't need to see to believe - the gift of
love that can bring light where there had been darkness.

Author Unknown
***********************************************************
A Story of Friendship 

One day a teacher asked her students to list the names 
of the other students in the room on two sheets of paper, 
leaving a space between each name. 

Then she told them to think of the nicest thing they 
could say about each of their classmates and write it down. 

It took the remainder of the class period to finish the 
assignment, and as the students left the room, each one 
handed in the papers. 

That Saturday, the teacher wrote down the name of each 
student on a separate sheet of paper, and listed what 
everyone else had said about that individual. 

On Monday she gave each student his or her list. Before 
long, the entire class was smiling. "Really?" she heard 
whispered. "I never knew that I meant anything to anyone!" 
and, "I didn't know others liked me so much," were most of 
the comments. 

No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. She 
never knew if they discussed them after class or with their 
parents, but it didn't matter. The exercise had 
accomplished its purpose. 

The students were happy with themselves and one another. 

That group of students moved on. Several years later, 
one of the students was killed in Vietnam and his teacher 
attended the funeral of that special student. 

She had never seen a serviceman in a military coffin 
before. He looked so handsome, so mature. 

The church was packed with his friends. One by one those 
who loved him took a last walk by the coffin. The teacher 
was the last one to bless the coffin. As she stood there, 
one of the soldiers who acted as pallbearer came up to her. 
"Were you Mark's math teacher?" he asked. 
She nodded: "yes." 
Then he said: "Mark talked about you a lot." 

After the funeral, most of Mark's former classmates went 
together to a luncheon. Mark's mother and father were 
there, obviously waiting to speak with his teacher. 
We want to show you something," his father said, taking 
a wallet out of his pocket. "They found this on Mark when 
he was killed. We thought you might recognize it." 

Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces 
of notebook paper that had obviously been taped, folded and 
refolded many times. 

The teacher knew without looking that the papers were 
the ones on which she had listed all the good things each 
of Mark's classmates had said about him. "Thank you so much 
for doing that," Mark's mother said. "As you can see, Mark 
treasured it." 

All of Mark's former class mates started to gather 
around. Charlie smiled rather sheepishly and said, "I still 
have my list It's in the top drawer of my desk at home." 
Chuck's wife said, "Chuck asked me to put his in our 
wedding album." "I have mine too," Marilyn said. "It's in 
my diary." Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into 
her pocketbook, took out her wallet and showed her worn and 
frazzled list to the group. "I carry this with me at all 
times, " Vicki said and without batting an eyelash, she 
continued: "I think we all saved our lists." 

That's when the teacher finally sat down and cried. 
She cried for Mark and for all his friends who would 
never see him again. The density of people in society is 
so thick that we forget that life will end one day. And we 
don't know when that one day will be. 

So please, tell the people you love and care for, that 
they are special and important. Tell them, before it is too 
late.
***********************************************************
Copyright 2000. All rights reserved. Permission is
granted to reproduce or distribute this newsletter as
long as this copyright notice and full information about
contacting the  author is attached. This newsletter is
produced by Dr. Janice Hughes B.Sc., M.Sc., D.C.

Dr. Janice Hughes is a Chiropractor who focuses on
health and wellness. She runs a private practice,
Whole Body Health, in Brantford, Ontario. She has created
an integrative health model which provides a group of
professionals partnering to provide lifestyle coaching
and education. Dr. Hughes is also a Coach who works
with individuals, teams or organizations who are
committed to getting ahead, changing direction or
simply growing.

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