Full Plate

I have a full plate today – plenty of work. I’m not complaining. I could be looking for work and wondering what I’ll do to get the bills paid, so I am grateful that I have work and people that are willing to pay me for it. Well some are, others want me to work and want to pay me when they can. Then they wonder that I slow down with them and start focusing on others. They can’t see it from my vantage point so they probably don’t realize or it doesn’t occur to them that my primary focus has to be on the people that pay me first. That’s how I make sure I can pay my bills. It’s also fair – the people who are willing and able to pay me now deserve to get the work done now. The people who are willing and able to pay me later deserve to get the work done later. It’s not personal, just business.

Yesterday I went and spoke at the Weingart Center. This is one of those Hard Core places in deep downtown LA. The people here have done some time and now they are trying to turn their lives around. I can’t talk too much about the facts of my life; they won’t relate but I can talk about the feelings. The feelings are universal. Everyone experiences the same feelings no matter what walk of life they come from. So that is how I can go from meeting with the CEO of a big company in Southern California on a Wednesday and then on Friday drive down to 6^th and San Julian and speak at a rehab facility to a group of people who are just getting off the streets and still shaking from withdrawal from drugs and alcohol. I can look around the room and see that some people are miles away but then I notice the faces of the people who look like they are hanging on to every word. There’s hope in their eyes and their smiles and nods let me know that they can identify with me. That is the most powerful experience that there is for me. Especially when you consider these are people I would normally never mix with. Not because I am better than them or have anything against them. No if anything the opposite is true – I love them and I would love to get to know each one of them, but the demographics are so different that the only reason I even get this opportunity is that I have dedicated my life in large part to helping other addicts and alcoholics to recover. We do recover. We get to go from hopeless to helpful, happy, and usefully whole. This is my experience today. And now I must go and help the ones who are paying me to be sure they have what they need and to be sure I can continue to be out there helping others. That interest is best served when I am not worrying about how I am going to pay my bills.

I love you – whoever you are!

Have a great day!

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