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8/7/2019 01 CONTRIBUTION

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Searching for Meaning

I have Immortal longings in me. William Shakespeare

easy to become diverted by lesser choices-choices that in the long run are of little value or meaning. And so to gain the peace of mind

Principles that help us in our search for meaning include

- -Contribution


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Contribution

All men should strive to learn before they die, what they are running from, and to, and why. J a m e s T h u r b e r

sy especially when we are so tangled up with the little things of life. Yet there comes a point when each individ?ual shoul

ed upon. The first story tells of a young man by the name of John Baker. A gifted runner with Olympic aspirations, John's s

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John Baker's Last Race

William J. Buchanan

r, touted by sports writers as one of the fastest milers in the world, he had fixed his dreams on representing the Unite

Albuquerque pals, he was considered "too uncoordinated" to run track in high school. But something happened during

n Haaland who was Baker's best friend to join the track team. Haaland refused. "Let me join the team, " Baker sug

Surge of Energy

ed on Albuquerque's reign?ing state cross-country champion, Lloyd Goff. Immediately after the crack of the gun, the fiel

nt. "Here comes

led runners far behind,

ew meet record What happened on the far

buck of the leader I"


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is body. "It was almost hypnotic, " Baker recalled. One by one he passed the other runners. Ignoring the fatigue that tore at his muscl

ager became a fierce, unrelenting competitor a "heart" runner who simply wouldn't be beat. By the end of his junior year Baker had

"Upset John"

city streets, parks, and golf coursestwenty-five miles a day. The training told. Soon, in Abilene, Tulsa, Salt Lake City, wherever the

rque for a dual meet, sportscasters predicted doom for the Lobos. The mile, they said, would fall to U. S. C. 's "Big Three"Chris Johnso

at the same moment, Baker and Johnson moved for the leadand collided. Fighting to stay on his feet, Baker lost precious yards, and J


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t, handing the demoralized Trojans their third-worst defeat in sixty-five years.

A Coach Who Cared

e wondered, Olympic material? In the end, he accepted a job that would allow him to pursue both ambitionshe became a coach at A

is or her best. This fairness, plus an obviously sincere con?cern for his students' welfare, triggered a powerful response. Youthful griev?

e morning near the end of the month he awoke with a painfully swollen groin. He made an appointment to see a doctor.

sticles had suddenly erupted in cancerous growth, and the mass was already widespread. Though Dr. Johnson didn't say it, he esti?mat

ing career was ended. Worst of all, his family faced months of anguish.


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Edge of the Precipice

hat night, he told his sister Jill what had happened that clear June day.

eached for the emergency brake. Suddenly a vision flashed before his eyesthe faces of the children at Aspen Element

ent Supervisor" all wearing their offi?cial Aspen jerseys, all eligible to earn a Coach Baker ribbon for trying hard. Bake

Silent Suffering

r school. He's the Chief Infield Raker. "


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o grandparents: "In other schools, our granddaughter suffered terribly from her awkwardness. Then, this wonderful year at Aspen, Coa

recognized, Baker had been suffering severe pain in silence, using his incredible power of concentration to ignore the pain just as he h

Cups for Dashers

en of Aspen, the girls on the Dashers responded to the new coach with enthusiasm.

asped. Inside were two shiny gold trophy cups. From then on, deserving Dashers received such cups. Months later, Baker's family woul

re going to the national AAU finals. "


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tions

brough"

Walking Tall

ning hospitalization, Baker insisted on returning to school for one last day. He told his parents that he wanted the children to remembe

er best at the finals.

od in style. " Shortly after dawn on November 26, he turned on his hospital bed to his mother, who was holding his hands and said, "I'

ildfire.


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Baker. " Aspen officials referred the mat?ter to the Albuquerque school board, and the board suggested a voter referen?dum. In early

lly became John Baker Elementary. It stands today as a visible monument to a courageous young man who, in his darkest hours, trans

ution. By focusing his last energies on the hearts and spirits of the children, he left a lasting legacy in the lives of those h

ith her children out of the nest, her husband gone, and so much of life behind her, would she choose to sit back and be

ANTONIA'S MISSION

Gail Cameron Wescott

Tijuana, Mexico. Twenty-five hun?dred fed-up prisoners, packed into a compound built for six hundred, angrily hurled broken bottles a

Then, at the peak of the pande


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ncredibly, they did. "No one else in the world but Sister Antonia could have done that, " said Robert Cass, a former inmate, now reha?b

La Mesa, without hot water, surrounded by murderers, thieves, and drug lords, all of whom she lovingly calls her "sons. " She attends t

are rich, " she remembered. He also told her that once a Beverly Hills girl, always a Beverly Hills girl. She believed him.

uty by her teens, she spent her weekend evenings dancing with young soldiers at the canteen and dreaming about the future. Her dre

to discuss. "Because a dream ends doesn't mean that it didn't come true once, " she said. "What matters now is my second life. "

use I couldn't stand seeing men tied to the mast and lashed, " she said. She had kept her


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onated to hospitals in Peru, " she pointed out. "There comes a time when you can't just be a spectator. You have to step outside the li

"the only Mexicans I knew were gardeners. " Now she found herself deeply drawn to the people.

ary, men were desperately sick, yet would stand when you entered. " Soon she was spending nights there, sleep?ing on a bunk in the

hristmas Eve. "Her children understand her priorities, " said her friend Noreen Walsh-Begun. "They realize that she cared for them, and

ou. She's not loved without reason. "

ar. I asked him if he had any idea what a car means to a family, how long it takes to buy one. I said, 'I love you, but I don't sympathize

y immediate thought was, Oh, thankGod, which I realize is not a typical response, but I love the police and they love me. "


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id, "but I have not experienced one day of depression in twenty-seven years, never felt hopeless. And I have never once felt there w

or statuswill at various times encounter points when they must choose whether to step forward and make a difference

ravages of war, he had every reason to remain securely indoors and keep to himself Yet when life called out to him, he-a

Paul Sullivan

l Cello festival in Manchester, England. Every two years a group of the world's greates cellists and others devoted to that unassuming i
http://ii.iimn.il/http://ii.iimn.il/


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percharged with anticipation and concentration.

d, bone, and rubble.

re any more. Anguished, he resolved to do the thing he did best; make music. Public music, daring music, music on a battlefield.r, one of the most mournful and haunting pieces in the clas?sical repertoire. He played to the abandoned streets, smashed trucks, and


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age, love, and brotherhood with Vedran Smailovic.

to the hushed hall and creating a shad? o w y ,empty universe, ominous and haunting. Slowly it grew into an agonized, screaming, slashing f

r made a sound for a long time. It w a s as though we had just witnessed that horrifying massacre ourselves.

An indescribable electric shock swept

ound each other in an exuberant embrace. Everyone in the hall erupted in a chaotic, emotional frenzyclapping, shouting, and cheeri

e of classical music, flawless in appearance and performance; and Vedran Smailovic, dressed in a stained and tattered leather motorc

face of bombs, death, and ruin, defying them all.

lp contrasting this concert with the splendors I had witnessed at the festival. Then I was struck by the profound s imi la r i t ies . With his m


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were no bombs and bullets, but there was real paindimming sight, crushing lone?liness, all the scars we accumulate in our livesa

her we create it or simply listen, it's a gift that can soothe, inspire, and unite us, often when we need it mostand expect it least.

us levels of despair. Perhaps their livelihoods are threatened. Maybe they have concerns about a family member. Possibl

Wrap Up

gh his window and saw devastation. But while each of those piv?otal choice points was significant, the truly life-changing


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tributor? Are you satisfied with your present contributions? If not, I suggest you train yourself to ask on a daily basis, Wh

R e f l e c t i o n s

st to be a secluded location for pondering his future and the contribution he wished to make. Where is your Sandia Crest?

will you spend your next year, month, or day?in a prison. What comforts are you willing to give up to make a more significant contribution?

spired the story's author, Paul Sullivan, to play the piano for nursing home patients. "Best" in their cases did not mean "b


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further insights on

Con t r i bu t i on

The Se arc h f o r Me an ing

earch for meaning in life are those who have formed their thoughts and actions around a purpose that makes their life of

ine having a car phone? But technology has not altered our lives, other than perhaps how we go about them. We are still in the positio

It is not enough to be industrious; so are the ants. What are you industrious about?

James Thurber

? ? ?

Some can't distinguish between being busy and being productive.

They are human windmills, flailing at work, but actually accomplishing little.

Caroline Donnelly,

Money

strife and contention. Nevertheless, far from being at loose ends within themselves, such persons have organized their lives around s


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has a why to live for c a n bear almost any how.

Friedrich N iet

? ? ?

is well enough to leave footprints on the sands of time, it is even more important to make sure they point in a commendable direction

James Branch

? ? ?

is more liberating than to fight for a cause larger than yourself, something that encompasses you but is not defined by your existence

John McCain, Faith of My


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The Power o f One

nothing to contribute. But the lessons of history are full of examples of the power that can come from the daily choices

We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the

ocean would be less because of that missing drop.M o t h e r T e r e s a

? ? ?

nothing to give the sea because they are not rivers. Give what you have. To someone it may be better than you dare to think.

? ? ?

er, find a nail. If you're not hungry, not lonely, not in troubleseek out someone who is.

? ? ?

mankind. But this is a fallacy. You must believe that you can help bring about a better world. A good society is produced only by good i

? ? ?

? ? ?

to an end.


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Ind iv idua l Un iqueness

ss you if you were gone. There is a place that you alone can fill.

se. Leonard was a great cellist, and a renowned teacher. Fortunately, he was also patient, because I was a very shy boy.

. What Leonard said was, "I've taught you many things, but now you have to go off and learn on your own. " Because in fact the worst

? ? ?

ot Moses?' They will ask me, 'Why were you not Zusya?'"

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Persona l M iss ions

ce in a succinct statement. Such statements can become a personal constitutionthe framework for making life-directin

it is a son of splendid torch which I've got a hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it

* * *

dure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy

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, make me a channel of Thy peace,

t where there is hatred I may bring love;

t where there is wrong I may bring the spirit of forgiveness;

t where there is discord I may bring truth;

t where there is doubt I may bring faith;

t where there is despair I may bring hope;

where there are shadows I may bring Thy light;

t where there is sadness I may bring joy;

grant that I may seek rather to comfort than be comforted,

nderstand than be understood,

ove than be loved;

it is by giving that one receives,

by self-forgetting that one finds,

by forgiving that one is forgiven,

by dying that one awakens to eternal life.

St. Francis ofAs

? ? ?

nt it said of me by those who knew me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.

Abraham Linc

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