What do you want to do when you grow up?

What do you want to do when you grow up? As children, we all were asked this question thousands and thousands of times. More than likely, our answers changed over the years. I know that mine certainly have. Many years ago, I started out dreaming to be a truck driver. A truck driver??? Yes, my grandfather was one so I figured since he was so cool that it would be cool to be a truck driver myself. Well, the aspirations to be a truck driver eventually turned into aspirations to be a state trooper. I wanted to be able to fly down the highway chasing the bad guys and dispensing justice. Well, those aspirations changed too. I then wanted to be a farmer. Farming has always been somewhat of a dream of mine but I've never really had the means to do so. Next, as I approached high school and well into college, I aspired to be an attorney. Now, here I am at 23, fresh out of college and I still don't exactly know what I want to do when I "grow up." I've had interviews, helped run a small family nursery and have recently taken steps to pursue audiology. However, none of these things really answer the following.

A friend recently asked me, "Well, what do you want to do with your life?" It was, indeed, a profound question. I offered up things that I wanted to do or did do in the past, but she quickly reminded me that I had strayed from the original question-the question of what I really wanted to do in life. Actually, I have been pondering this question even before she asked me. As you may know, this blog is partly dedicated to discovering the true measure of a man. How can one discover the true measure of a man if he doesn't have a clear hold on what he wants to do in life? So, I believe I have discovered the key aspect of what I want to do in life. It's very simple, I just want to help people.

Helping people is more than just offering great customer service at the counter or opening the door for a stranger. Although both of those things are nice, there's more to helping people. You see, I believe helping people involves placing yourself in their shoes and trying to understand their situation. When I was a student in college, the dorm supervisor posted a quote on the bulletin board just inside the door. The quote read, "Be kinder than necessary for everyone you know is fighting some kind of battle."-Anonymous. How true is that? Everyone has something they are dealing with. However, we often don't take the time to notice the plight of others. We are part of a "me" generation, only focused on ourselves. We say we care about the well-being of others, but do we really? Have we taken the time to notice that the old lady down the street is struggling to get her trash can to the curb on garbage pick-up day and could use some help. Have we taken the time to notice that the teenager working at the local fast food joint is there because he's helping support his mother because she has cancer and that he could use a little friendly encouragement? I say all of this to make the point that the actual act of helping people isn't all that difficult; it's taking the time to notice that help is needed that often seems to be the hard part. However, we can change that!

The first thing we can do to change how we notice that others need help is by realizing how grateful you were when someone helped you. Perhaps, when that person helped you, it inspired you to help someone else. Clay Walker's song "Chain of Love" demonstrates that point well. (Listen to it when you can. I've included the link in this post.) Secondly, we should also realize that helping others improves the overall good of our world. Just think what a better place the world would be if we helped other people. Finally, we should realize that helping others helps us to stay humble by realizing that we are blessed in many ways and that our situation could be worse. So, go out and help someone today! One more feature of the true measure of a man is his willingness to help others. That, my friends, is just a few thoughts from a small town southern man!

Here's the link to Clay Walker's "Chain of Love"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVQGQ0wh7eY