Happy Sunday Everyone-
I had a crazy week this past week. I witnessed some amazement on both ends of the spectrum, of the best in people and things not so good. As much as it’s human nature in a lot of cases to want to hear the negative and focus on it, I’m going to skip it for the most part. I’ll only say I had to involve myself with a person and a situation that left me borderline speechless on the level of this person’s unawareness and lack of desire to look inside themselves to see the truth of their greed. Thankfully, it’s a rarity that I find these people, but when you do, it causes a little personal evaluation too, some introspection in the hopes of not ever being thrown in that category. Consistent checkpoints on oneself, is time well spent.
The opposite also happened this week. I saw the absolute best in people inside the same 24 hours that left me borderline speechless.
I wrote a few weeks ago about our beloved Tina, our teammate and now cancer battler. As I mentioned in an internal note to our division, we remain hopeful, but the prognosis is creating a much shorter timeline than what we all want. When life events happen to people you care about, you try to help. I reached out to my financial advisor, Helen. I’ve mentioned Helen before, she’s a humble “big deal.” I shouldn’t have access to her myself. I do because a longtime friend/client introduced me to her 20 years ago when I was doing his loan. Ten years ago, she basically went pro bono in taking me on as a client.
I reached out to Helen last week and asked her for advice on the overall situation, wills, trusts, financials, all of it. I talked to Helen about all the questions/concerns Tina had. Instead of giving me advice to relay, Helen suggested a Zoom call with all of us. So last Wednesday, we had Tina, her cousin, Erica (my business partner), myself, and Helen on a call. We’re covering every hard question you need to talk about, it was practical, emotional, some tears, questions, next steps. It wasn’t a favor to me; it was Helen caring enough to want to help.
I sent Helen an email thanking her for her time after. Her response is below, which speaks volumes:
“Hello Hunter, I have gratitude for being invited into the conversation. I think we go thru life and we “do our job” and it’s meaningful. BUT…. Yesterday was an opportunity to be who I am in my heart and use my skills I learned. I am grateful to have met Tina. I’ll take the next steps as I committed to and will get back to you. Thank you, Helen”
As you can read, Helen is formal, she’s a pro, she’s serious, she’s a doer of good deeds, but she also has a huge heart, and she gives it freely. When you engage with the Helens of the world, you find yourself asking: What can I do more? How can I contribute more? How can I impact more? How can I pay it forward?
These people challenge you to be better. What a gift!
I’m not sure if it’s an age thing, timing thing, or what, but I feel like I’m getting presented daily with examples of both sides of life, the givers and the takers. I’m grateful for the takers; without them, we might dull our senses in appreciating the givers.
The givers are where it’s at.