Time to extend a hand

03.05.10

I chuckled this week as I saw all the online articles and blogs about Carly Simon "finally" revealing the subject of her mega-hit "You're So Vain" ... there were posts everywhere claiming that if you played Carly's song backwards, you would hear her whisper "David Geffen" ... of course, within a day or two, Carly piped up, laughed, and said basically "you're so wrong" ...

But the words of her song have echoed in my mind ... it's definitely a catchy tune. And it seems to be a theme song for me, with a week filled of requests from people that all centered on "it's about me, what are you doing for me, when do you take care of me" ...

When did we become such a "me, me" society? When did we lose focus on our surroundings, our climate, our place in this world? Carly wrote that tune in the 70s ... so perhaps the self-ego was alive and thriving back then. But it seems to have gotten so much worse.

Especially when you look around and you see people struggling. Kids like Evan Huskisson whose leukemia returned and he's now in isolation at Riley after undergoing full body chemotherapy and a blood cord transplant. Or women like Sharon Nelson, a proud grandma, who underwent a mastectomy for Stage 2 breast cancer – only to learn that they didn't get it all and she's now fighting Stage 4 that has metastasized in her bones and organs.

These are the people we should be watching out for. These are the people we should be using our energy on. Our company does a lot of volunteer work at the Peyton Manning Children's Hospital at St. Vincent – so we know firsthand that there are families out there – many, many families – that are fighting for life. On Valentine's weekend alone, the hospital was at capacity – that's 48 rooms filled with sick kids.

Maybe I'm taking it all too personally. Maybe I need a weekend to just breathe and let the frustration go. Maybe I'm the one being vain, and making it all about me.

But the reality is – we all have our personal battles. Health. Marriage. Career. Finances. My battle is no bigger or lesser than yours. And your battle is no bigger or lesser than the person sitting next to you. It's your battle. And it's personal, so it's important. But I've found, over the course of the past few years, that it's easier – and more gratifying – to focus on someone else's battle and help however I can, than to sit and fester over my own.

Carrie Underwood has a new song out now and one of the lyrics says something to the effect of "she's looking for a hand up and not a hand out." And I like that. Way better than Carly and her issues with vanity. I can only hope that becomes our song of "the 10s" – as in 2010 and beyond.

Let's let go of the squabbles and the gripes and the " what's in it for me" and let's extend our hand to another in need. The rewards from that are far greater than anything you could ever deposit in a banking account.