Making A Difference
by Mary Jane
Mapes
For years I've been sharing with audiences the power one person has to
make a difference in this world. I've told stories of how people, from literature and from
real life, have made a significant difference in the lives of others, and have suggested,
that they, too, in serving others, can make a difference.
I have shared with audiences the story of Oscar Schindler, the German Nazi war profiteer
who employed slave labor from the Jewish ghetto in Crakow, Poland to make pots and pans to
support Hitler's war efforts… a man who eventually risked his life and fortune to
save from the gas chambers the 1100 Jewish people he employed.
From Elizabeth Yates' book, Amos Fortune, Free Man, there was the story of Amos Fortune
who understood that personal fulfillment only comes with caring for others. Amos, a freed
slave, was driven to do for others what had been done for him. His wife, a woman whom he
had freed and later married, once asked him, "You'd set all the world free if you
could, wouldn't you, Amos?" Amos shook his head; he knew that that was impossible. He
responded simply, "Just the part of it that I can touch. That's all any man or woman
can do."
There have been so many stories to tell...just none of them personal. Never had I felt
that I had been used as an instrument to make a reeeally BIG difference...until I met
Ernie.
I was delivering the first half of a two-part program. During our luncheon break, Ernie,
one of the participants stayed behind to talk. He told me that he had been depressed for
two years, and that nothing he or anyone else had done for him had made a difference. He
felt suicidal; he didn't think he could "hang in there" much longer. Needless to
say, this conversation was to be significant.
We talked for several minutes during which time I strongly suggested Ernie get counseling.
He responded that his wife had also urged him to get counseling, but that he was opposed
to doing that. I then asked if he was a person of faith. He said that he had grown up in
the church, but had fallen away because it didn't seem to him that fun and faith went hand
in glove. Since it was clear that he was far from living a "fun" existence, I
suggested that perhaps this depression was the hand of God tapping him on the shoulder,
saying, "I want you."
We talked for a long time; I shared with him my own personal story of return to faith, and
the tremendous difference it has made in my life. Before he left that night, he hugged me
and said, "I just knew you were a woman I could talk to."
The next week I was told by his boss that after he left my class that afternoon, he went
home and asked his wife to pray with him...the first time he had prayed in years. Two days
later he took a month off work to get the indepth counseling that he so desperately
needed. He had told his boss that it was our conversation that had made the
difference...that for the first time in over two years he felt hopeful.
Several years ago someone accusingly said, "I have a problem with people like you;
essentially, Mary Jane, what you're selling is HOPE." Then, I felt uncomfortable with
his remark. But today, I am more convinced than ever that HOPE is critical to a life
worthy of being lived. As I once heard someone say, "Without hope in the future,
there is no power in the present."
Though we may not always be aware of just how we are making a difference, if our purpose
is to serve others, and if we are growing and putting our best self forward, we can't help
but make a contribution to the lives of others. And afterall, isn't that what we all want
in the end.
©Copyright 1999-2006 Mary Jane Mapes All rights reserved.
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