Inspiration from Others

Thanks for taking part in INSPIRATION Week to everyone who has left some great comments and shared with others. Unfortunately, life got in the way yesterday so I wasn’t able to post The People Who Make Me Better article. I promise it will be out tomorrow though. As for today, I want to share with you a few stories from fellow LifeExcursion enthusiasts. If you happened to miss the articles from earlier this week, please do check them out in the following links…

• Monday : Why My Birthday (TODAY) & Your Birthday Are Meaningless & That’s Awesome
• Tuesday : Making Others Happy / Pay It Forward
• Wednesday : Chasing Down Successful Nomad Cody McKibben
• Thursday : The People Who Make Me Better (Coming Saturday…)

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Now on to today’s inspirational stories…

The first comes from Earl of Wandering Earl who provides great commentary, very informative information from a long life of traveling abroad, and, like me, a guy who “…prefer’s to defy the rules of conventional life:

It might not be the most impressive of stories, but it has inspired me a
great deal. On my first trip to India back in 2001, I had my wallet stolen
in the middle of a crowded night market in Delhi. I lost everything.
Without a single rupee on me, I stumbled into a tiny shop where you could
make international calls. I explained my situation to the man behind the
desk and asked him if I could make a phone call home and pay him when I
eventually had money. Without hesitation he agreed. After I made my phone
call, this man then refused to let me leave his shop without me either
agreeing to accept 1000 rupees so that I could eat and pay for my hotel
room that night or agree to spend the night at his house with his family.
I was stunned by his words as I was just some stranger that had wandered
in off the street and he clearly was not a wealthy man.

I think about this simple story almost every day and it greatly affects
how I treat other people. In the midst of such a frustrating moment (being
pick-pocketed), in the midst of such a chaotic and intimidating city…one
speck of random kindness instantly eliminated all the negativity. I was as
happy as could be that night, even though I had no money, no credit cards
and no passport.

I’ve returned to India nine times since that first trip and I make it a
point to visit this man (Raj) every single time. In fact, I recently
learned that he is about to lose his shop because he has fallen on hard
times and I’m currently working on ideas to help raise some money to save
it. I hope I can make it happen.

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The second story comes from Steve Weaver of More Than Poor. This short description of action’s he takes was in the comment’s section of Giving Without Receiving so I thought I would make sure everyone got a chance to check it out:

One of my favorite things is in the grocery store. When I see a young couple with kids, having to use food stamps and WIC for food, I like to give them a few dollars cash so they can get something that they need but they cannot normally afford. Another thing I like to do and it may be considered giving, I like to try to make sure I give at least two people a complement each day. Little things like this brighten peoples day and a lot of times it starts the ripple effect!

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I would have liked to have a third inspirational article (HERE), but unfortunately, there were no other submissions or comments about others inspiration. I would like to thank Earl and Steve for sharing and I hope all of you can add a short inspirational story to the comments here.

Thanks to everyone who has made INSPIRATION Week a success and I will have the last post up Saturday pertaining to INSPIRATION Week.

Have a good one…

David Damron
LifeExcursion