We’ve Got Work To Do

Last weekend was the 32nd running of the Walt Disney World Marathon. Up until the 26th running; it was an event that my wife and I had done together every year since the inaugural in 1994.

I developed some issues that forced me into marathon running retirement but still enjoyed going to the race to meet my wife at the finish line.

This year I considered not going because I am dealing with a foot injury that makes it painful to walk, so right now I am having to limit how much I do. I can get around the house or around at work but anything beyond 50 or 60 yards is quite painful.

I decided to go. I knew that I would have to park a good distance away from the reunion area so I mentally prepared for a mile or so of foot pain. I had done the walk from the parking lot to the pre-start area 31 times.

Getting there for the end of the race at 10:00 a.m. as opposed to the beginning at 4:30 a.m. means having to park much further away. I found a spot in Dorie, row 23 and start my slow hobble to the family reunion area at the finish.

I got to the last crossover and was about 25 yards away from where I wanted to be and was stopped by an Osceola sheriff who told me I wasn’t allowed to go any further and would have to go all of the way back where I came from and go through the main gate and then all of the way back to the reunion area.

That’s when my foot started doing the talking. I tried every angle possible and finally realized that if I wanted to get to the finish area that I would have to do what she told me I had to do.

She said that she would be able to get me a wheelchair if I thought that would help. That turned into a discussion between my ego and my foot. I thought about it for a couple of minutes and then said “That would be good… Thank you”.

I’m sure that I could have made the distance but would have spent the rest of the day with an ice pack on my foot. As I stood there waiting for the chair; I thought that it would actually be a good experience and would offer a perspective as to what it is like to have to navigate through life in a wheelchair.

I had never been in a wheelchair except for once in high school when my cousin Dale was forced to use one after a getting hit by a car and ended up with pins and rods in both of his tibias. I sat in it and tried to do a wheelie. The result was me flipping backwards and banging my head on the wood floor.

When the Disney employee showed up with the chair; I was kind of thinking that he would be pushing me to the EPCOT entrance. He didn’t. He said “Here you go sir” and turned around and left. I thought “OK, the game just got leveled up”. So I sat in the chair and off I went. By the way, it was one of the most uncomfortable seats I have ever been in.

It was sort of ironic because I had skimmed through the content for Master Key Experience (MKE) the day before and it was about kindness. This would give me an objective measure of how much there is in the world. How many people would offer to give me a push to my destination. I had no idea what to expect in that regard. There were easily 250 people that passed me enroute.

While I was wheeling myself along, my wife called and told me that she had crossed the finish line and was wondering if I was in the family reunion area. I told her about my escapade and we decided that I would just meet her outside the entrance.

When she came through the gate and walked over to me; I got up out of the chair and gave her a big hug and a kiss and told her congratulations. She asked me if I wanted her to push me to my truck.

I was telling her about my little sociology experiment and asked her how many people she thought offered to push me. She said, “I don’t know, probably not that many. These people are anxious to get into the park. How many?” I said, “including you, 4”. That’s .016%.

My take away from the experience was twofold:

1; If my percentage is anywhere close to be representative of society at large then we have a lot of work to do.

2; I could tell you a lot about each of the people who offered to push me in my wheelchair. What their face looked like, how their voice sounded, what they were wearing. For all of the others who passed by; I couldn’t tell you anything about any of them.

I personally am those four people who offered kindness. Kindness feels good in both directions.

This week of paying attention to offering and observing kindness has been pretty awesome.

That whole notion of ‘you attract what you are’ can to some degree isolate you from some realities. What is the reality in this situation? I don’t know for sure. I didn’t ask anyone for help and had I, who knows maybe 249 of them would have offered kindness.

But based on my own anecdotal observation; we need to do even more to spotlight kindness and get the world to know how good it feels.

Click the link below to see some Kindness examples: