Imagine for a moment...
Imagine yourself as one of the trillions of stars that light up the Eastern Sky...surrounded by billions and billions of other stars. Imagine...going out ‘on stage' night after night and shining as brightly as you possibly can...only to have your light lost in the blinding glare from the other stars. Imagine wondering if your little light matters to the world at all. Then imagine...one night...you are chosen to provide a guiding light to three wise men seeking a very, special, newborn child.
Forever the world is changed...because of you...BECAUSE YOU ARE.
Every human being feels like that little star from time to time...lost in a vast sea of faces and words. It is easy to believe that our voice and fragile life matter very little to this seemingly endless universe. Still...we humans are programmed with a profound need to leave a piece of ourselves...however small...when we are gone. I once heard someone say, "When a man nears the end of his life, he does not seek fortune or fame. He seeks significance."
What will I leave behind when I am gone? After all...that is the REAL QUESTION.
What will I leave of myself to show the next generation that I was here? What will I deposit into those people closest to me...my husband, my family and my children? What emotion will my memory evoke in those who know me? Will the world really be any different...any better...because I was born? Will you, the reader, remember this post? Can my words change the world?
Can one person...a solitary, ordinary life...really make a difference?
In 1963, Martin Luther King delivered a speech during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom declaring, "I have a dream!" Those four words have resonated through the generations to this day. No one can hear those words without remembering the man, Martin Luther King, and his passionate dream...a dream for which he was willing to die.
I also have a dream...
Almost exactly one year ago, I began my blogging journey on ActiveRain...without a clue as to where my journey would lead. Within weeks, I began to realize the impact of each of my posts...that the words I write will continue to 'speak' on my behalf...long after I am gone. In that moment of realization, I made a commitment to write words that evoke intense emotion...words that build up...words of encouragement...words of hope. I also made a decision to use this incredible platform I have been given to share my dream with the world...my dream of leaving a better world than the one into which I was born.
My DREAM...my PASSION...my REASON for being here on this earth...is to rescue sexually abused and abandoned children and give them HOPE.
A year and a half ago, I met three children...ages 6, 8 and 10. These children had lost their father (in a work-related electrical accident) four years earlier and been abused and abandoned by their mother two years earlier. They were living with a relative who clearly resented their presence in her life. She often reminded them that they were a phone call away from being 'sent back' into the system.
The first moment I saw these three angels, I fell in love with them and wanted to bring them home with me. I wanted to give them the life they deserved...the childhood that had been stolen from them...the hope to believe in a brighter tomorrow. Although I wanted to be the one to change their lives...these three children forever changed mine. They reminded me that I am not here on this earth for myself...that the only way to gain my life is to give it away. They left their 'fingerprints' on my soul and pieces of their broken hearts in my heart.
In honor of these three children...and ALL of the 'broken' children who have found their way into my heart...I have a dream of building 'Durham's House of Hope'. Durham's House of Hope will be a beautiful home and school for 100 sexually abused, abandoned, discarded and 'broken' children...a loving, peaceful place where their little hearts can be protected and nurtured back to life.
As real estate professionals...we are blessed to make a living by helping people realize their dreams of home ownership. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing the look on a new home owner's face...that first moment when they realize that the home REALLY is theirs. That moment is magical. Can you imagine THAT feeling...intensified a million times...when you see a child, who has been abused and thrown away, walk into their beautiful, new bedroom for the first time?
Can one person change the world? Sure...they can! However...a hundred people can do a thousand times more. Remember..."The whole is greater than the sum of its individual parts."
TOGETHER...WE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD...ONE CHILD AT A TIIME!
Written and Posted by:
Elizabeth Nieves - Broker, REALTOR® -- The Elizabeth Nieves Realty Group @ Keller Williams (A Bilingual Real Estate Team serving Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill NC and surrounding areas.)
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