“I’m useless! I don’t think I’m cut out for anything!”
I nearly choked on my food as I heard this from the lady standing at my side. It was lunch break at a seminar on ‘Purpose and Work’ I was addressing and I’d noticed that even through the supposedly motivational talk I was giving her eyes were listless and dull. “Okay,” I said, “ever heard of the woman who ran a creche for children from her home? As she sat with the kids one day a fire engine zoomed by. The kids were thrilled to see a dog on the front seat.”
“They began a conversation about the duties of a ‘fire dog.’ One child
suggested they use the dog to keep the crowds back. Another said it was just for good luck. But one child remarked bringing the argument to an end, ‘They use the dog to find the fire hydrant!’
The lady next to me smiled, and laughed at the near truth the child had seen.
“So?” she asked, “What about me?”
“We all must be having useful abilities especially if sniffing out fire hydrants is a useful ability. Some of our skills are apparent. Some are hidden. Some probably haven’t even been discovered. Some can be improved with work,” I said.
“Madame Marie Curie, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, said this: ‘We must believe we are gifted for something and that this one thing must be attained.”
“So,” I said gently as I went at my food again, “The first thing you need to do is believe you are gifted for something. Do you know what that ‘something’ is?”
I saw she was interested so I continued.
“American football’s William Floyd thought his football playing was his greatest gift till he injured his knee halfway through a game. The talented athlete was out for the rest of the season. It was then he found a gift he didn’t know he possessed. He stood on the sidelines at every game and shouted and cajoled; he motivated and consoled; he became a dominating presence and a source of great inspiration for his team.”
“At the end of the year, his teammates voted him the player ‘who best exemplifies inspirational and courageous play.’ I wonder if his newly-found gift of positive motivation, proved more useful than his athletic abilities?”
“What a strange way to find that gift!” she said, “through a calamity like an injured knee! I like the story of the dog finding the fire hydrant! I’d like to be a fire dog!” said the lady as her face lit up with a smile I’d never seen before, “And do you know something I like the way you speak!”
“Aha!” I smiled, “You’re already motivating me from the sidelines like the football player! You’ve found your purpose!” And, we both laughed as I finished my lunch.

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