How This Post Came To Be

A young man named Jesse asked to be a contributor, I read his post and I thought about it. It’s one young, newlywed blogger with cystic fibrosis talking about his life. The post he sent wasn’t the usual contributor post. It was more like a Sunday night Bloggy Question, except it wasn’t hypothetical.

We talked on the telephone about why he wrote it. Jesse said he hoped he might get feedback. He assured me that he was open to honest, even negative responses. He wants to know what people really think. I told him that he might not get any feedback at all. Jesse said he was ready for that too.

If he was brave enough to put himself forward like that, I am brave enough to support that. –Liz

I Want to Make a Difference, Too

Guest Writer: Jesse Petersen

I am at a point in my journey in life where things are finally settling down. Life is what the average American would call “good.” To me, though it is great. What is it that lead me to pen this article for this audience? It’s time to get to the meat and potatoes of my heart today:

I want to make a difference.

A major contributor to my state of mind is a general feeling of easy distraction/unhappiness. Mind you, I am a newlywed. I am VERY happy. Things have never, ever been this good. My health is increasing for the first time in my life, instead of the other way; I am secure; I have the support of my best friend when I come home every night; and things at work are going really good.

So why, the heck am I unhappy?! It is not even unhappiness. It is a distracted unfulfilled potential. I am not in the position I want because I have not jumped through the hoops yet. I don’t know, but my boss is trying to get me there.

I want to make a difference.

That sentence is a paragraph in and of itself, and deserving of a second appearance. It speaks volumes about a central yearning of the heart. Is it selfish to want to make a difference? I am not saying that I want to become rich, or famous, or busy. I am just a 28 year old guy with cystic fibrosis, a wife, a very nice apartment in a very nice development, with a wonderful family and a supportive chuch family who wants to make a difference.

Is it hopeless to think that I possess something that other people would want?

The world is full of success stories. Many of those stories belong to Liz’s readers, and I would venture a guess that quite a few people are reading this because they want to hear what successful people did to attain the status of “successful.”

What is my idea or what knowledge do I have or need to get in order to make a difference? Is there a roadmap to finding your influence, or does it smack you in the face one day? Is it just a Holy Grail, never to be found? When I find it, will it make a difference in me?

Jesse Petersen writes at Gitr’s WoW Blog

Thank you, Jesse, for saying that.
–ME “Liz” Strauss