This book doesn't offer you instructions on how to lose twenty pounds in twenty-four hours or how to look ten years younger with one small bottle or how to keep food fresh for five years. If you have ever purchased anything like that, then you're just stupid. And you have enough time on your hands that can be put to better use. It's time to turn around and do something meaningful.
Let me ask you one simple question, "How well do you know the people who come to your house each week and collect your trash?" For most of us they are the same people week in and week out. If you have no idea of these people's names, then shame on you. You have some homework to do. You can start by reading this book and trying to implement some of the things I suggest. You just might see a life changed from the results of your labor, which is truly one of the most rewarding experiences you will ever have. Look, I'm not saying you are going to have to become the Welcome Wagon, but we all need to get in the game.
I don't consider myself a "People Person." (My friends who know me would say, "No kidding.") I'm always the person who sticks in the ear plugs when I get on an airplane so I don't have to talk to the person in the seat next to me. And I used to hate the buddy system on school field trips. But you don't have to be a people person and rally all sorts of troops to do good in this world. You don't need to involve your entire aerobics class or all the members of your book club to make positive change. It just takes YOU. The power of one is so, so powerful!
I hope that as you read these pages, you discover you have a passion to make a difference. Perhaps it's a passion you did not even realize existed. Or perhaps reading about my experiences will reenergize your desire to do the right thing. We all have our "buts" and "excuses" that so often stand between our hearts and our heads. They interfere with our passions. I hope that by sharing my stories with you, you will eliminate these excuses one by one and choose to take action. The power of choice is great. Choosing to help others—whether in big ways or small—might change a life forever. You could find out you're terrific at something that doesn't reward you with a piece of hardware that sits on a shelf collecting dust—trophies and ribbons that, years down the road, no one even remembers what they were for. Helping people is so much more important and so much more tangible than gaining personal possessions. It's a whole different kind of achievement.
I am no master storyteller—really I'm not—and I'm not sure what you expected when you purchased this book. Just know that I am writing from my heart, sharing stories about the moments that caused me to wake up and turn around. My prayer is that as you read each page, you will be inspired to do the same. And hopefully, it will result in something that will enhance not only your own life, but that of someone else as well.