WHO YOU ARE ANYWHERE IS WHO YOU ARE EVERYWHERE.

Who are you when you don’t have anything to gain?

Who are you when no one is watching?

Who are you when someone who has less than you needs something you have?

Who are you when you see someone struggling?

Who are you when there is an opportunity to share your time and resources?

Who are you when there is an opportunity to perform a random act of kindness for a stranger?

Last week, I was out on a bike ride and got a flat tire 5 miles away from home. I got off my bike to fix my flat and realized I had the wrong pump and without a valve adapter, there was no way I could re-inflate my tire. I did not have a valve adapter.

I sat there in the rain for about 20 minutes - sitting in the wet dirt on the side of the trail, with my bike disassembled.

The number of cyclists who rode passed me: at least 30.

The number of people who acknowledged a woman sitting in the rain on the side of a trail with a broken down bike: 0

When no one stopped for me after 15 minutes or so, I started trying to flag people down. 

I called out to folks as they approached me, “Excuse me, do you have a….”

And my voice would trail off as they whizzed by me without any sort of acknowledgment.

If you’re the person who whizzes by the woman in the rain with the broken down bike, I’m going to assume you are also the person who walks by the person experiencing homelessness and acts like they are invisible. I’m going to assume you are the person who speaks in meetings without asking those who look or think differently than you for their ideas and opinions. I’m going to assume are not teaching your children how to treat people who are different than you with kindness and compassion because you are not demonstrating that yourself (unless perhaps it benefits you.)

In this episode, I share how I finally got help, as well as how to check yourself in terms of how you show up for others.   

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