Rough diamonds may sometimes be mistaken for worthless pebbles
Thomas Browne
Thinking of Mark and Will as I write this today…
Paying Attention to the details
Thursday afternoon I had a probation appointment with Mark, and after covering the required “stuff”, we began really talking. Mark was excited about a new job he recently obtained and the enthusiasm in his eyes and the tone of his voice was obvious. As he described the job, he pulled out his phone to share pictures. See, Mark is a car-guy, and his expertise is in restoration and body work. As he flipped through the pictures, sharing a little history about each car, it was clear this company he worked for didn’t just fix the typical fender-bender on another look-a-like crossover vehicle…these cars were classics! After viewing the pictures, I informed Mark I’d like to come out to his work and take a closer look at what he does. We agreed to meet the following day.
I arrived at the shop the next day to find Mark waiting near the front door. After introducing me to the shop owner, we went into the back work area where the cars sat at various stages in the restoration process. Now, I’m not a car-guy in the sense that I don’t work on them…but I am a car-guy in the sense that I love to admire the classics and would love to own one…or two.
In that moment…I was a total gear-head!
With pride, Mark took me to a Roadrunner he was buffing earlier in the morning…it looked amazing!
As we walked through the shop, he led me to a paint booth where he’s priming out parts of another car. In that booth sat an old Corvette Stingray body preparing for the next step on it’s journey back from the dead…
With pleasure, Mark described how this job was a dream come true, it was what he loved doing. He talked with pride about how his name had been recommended to the shop owner, and after a few hours of “trying out” for the job, the owner was impressed enough to hire him permanently and give him a $4/hour raise.
Tragedy in the Junkyard
I’m still getting to know Mark. He spent the first 120 days of his probation sentence in jail. This ain’t his first rodeo… His story has some long chapters where alcohol (and poor decisions under the influence) were main characters, but he’s sober now and wants to reclaim his life. Incarceration was never meant to be a part of his story…but doors were opened and decisions made and Mark (and so many others) took a detour off course toward destinations he (and they) were never intended to arrive at.
Like the image above, so many people possess dreams that now lay dead in the graveyard, the people only a shell of what they were once meant to be, coming off the assembly line…metaphorically speaking of course. Filled with the smell of new leather, a shiny paint job and plenty of horsepower, we carry our dreams out onto the fast lane of life with the windows wide open and the radio cranked up… (somehow I just got sidetracked watching Freebird on YouTube…)
But something happens along the way…
How many Mark’s are out there? How many people are out there who made a choice which led to another…and another, until the hole got so deep they simply didn’t know how to get out? This isn’t just about people with legal problems…this is about anyone who’s ever felt stuck.“
Something happens along the way…
Becoming Inspired
Back to Mark…and Will…
As I walked around that warehouse listening to Mark’s stories, I sensed a stirring in my own heart, and I thought of Will. See, Will is another guy I’ve had the pleasure of knowing beyond probation. If I had my way about 7 years ago, I would have had the Court order Will to enter a auto-tech program. He had a gift…a talent, and he needed to be pushed to harness this gift and channel it into a productive direction. He had to fall deeper down the hole though.
But only a few days earlier Will informed me he had an appointment for today in Denver at a similar vocational program. He’s still in his 20’s, and although he’s taken the long road to get there, perhaps it was a route he had to take.
Here’s a point I want to make though: we all have such unique gifts, and when we connect with those passions within our heart, beautiful things can take place.
Ordinary people doing extraordinary things…
Mark has an amazing talent and he gets the opportunity to let it shine, and Will…that boy can make a low-rider out of a tricycle. Funny…Will just texted me as I was writing this to express he was getting hit with a lot of self-doubt as he took that step today. Don’t you quit on your dreams Will! Don’t even think about it!
We live with amazingly talented people all around us…and yes, that includes you and I. They come in the most unlikely forms. Can you spot them? They may not be showroom quality yet. I know I’m not, and yet, like Mark, Will, and so many others I’ve crossed paths with, I deeply desire to be in that showroom someday…fulfilling the dreams in my own life.
Some of us are at various stages in the restoration process…the wheels may be off, the doors may be getting primed, the motor pulled…but the potential is there…the talent is there…it simply needs to be noticed and called out. Before I sign off and put my pom-pom’s down, let me ask you to consider becoming a person who looks for the “amazing” and “extraordinary” in people. Sometimes, a person simply needs someone to come along who believes in them enough to see the diamond-in-the-rough, and call it out.
BaAder-Meinhof Phenomenon
I bring up this term frequently in my appointments with clients. In short, it means, “you will find what you’re looking for.” If you’re looking for the ugly in people, you’ll find it; If all you are looking for is a convicted felon sitting across the desk from you…I guarantee…that’s what you’ll find; But if you’re looking for the amazing in people…you’re apt to find it in the most unlikely of places…