Make A Difference - Kleenex Commercial - Sea Stars -

I love teaching. I really really love teaching - unless it's mid-semester and the sky is gray and my students are restless and mid-terms are due and . . . But other than that, I adore 99.9% of my students. Teaching about the subject is only a portion of what I do as a professor. I want my students to know they are valued. They are loved.

Today, on Instagram, a person asked, "What is one of your dreams?" And I didn't have to think long - I wrote, "To make a difference."

Remember the story about the sea star? The little boy throws one sea star back into the water and tells the older man, "Made a difference to that one." And see, to me, this is what my life is about, making a difference - if only to one person. And I begin every day asking my Higher Power to lead and guide me to people and places where I can make a difference.

I'm the first one to say I don't think what I do matters. I'm pretty much a tiny person in a great big world, and I don't matter. And I'm fine with that. I don't have any big ideas of grandiosity. I'm not self-centered (in fact, when the attention is on me I hide), and I'd rather talk about you, any day, over talking about myself.

There's this point in life where one begins thinking about destiny, and living, and the meaning to existence. And I believe my existence is to make a difference, to be the change, and to help someone, somewhere, see that they matter.

And I'm loving being a teacher and a chaplain, and helping others through their pain, and really being able to empathize is my life's purpose. Students and clients need to know they are important.

The below video is very sweet. And while I expect nothing like this to ever happen, it already has, in so many many ways.

Enjoy -