My experience offering people inspirational cards changed my life
“Never underestimate your ability to make someone’s life better – even if you never know it.” - Greg Louganis
This is such a powerful quote by the Olympic gold-winning swimmer Greg Louganis.
I have been giving out business card-sized inspirational cards for over 25 years. I used to give them to my students before starting a lesson. After I retired, I continued to give them to people everywhere. Several months ago, I was at a local cabaret. As we were waiting for the performance to start, a young woman server came over and asked what I wanted to drink. I gave her a card with a quote from Maya Angelou. After she took my order, she read Angelou’s card which said, “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated.” She turned to me and said, “Thank you so much for this card. I needed it today. This is my first day of sobriety.” I was touched by her honesty. I just pick cards randomly, but so often it is the perfect card for the person receiving it.
It is so amazing how arbitrarily giving out these inspirational cards through the years has affected people. I am not rich or famous but giving out these motivational cards has been my way of trying to help others and make the planet a little bit better. What I have learned is that everyone either is enduring some kind of problem or has someone close who is dealing with a tough issue.
One card that has always been popular is Christopher Reeve’s quote, “Don’t give up. Don’t lose hope. Don’t sell out.” I can’t tell you how many people have grabbed onto those words. Responses have been, “My mom is fighting cancer and I am giving this to her.” Another one, “My workplace is horrible, and I am not sure I can stay any longer. This gives me courage to stay.” It is utterly heartbreaking at times to hear the words strangers tell me, but it is also heartwarming to know that the little cards make a difference.
I am an imperfect person, but I give these motivational cards out to help people with their life struggles. It makes me feel like I am doing something positive in the world. Recently, one of my high school friends visited me here in the desert. He is a retired doctor who specialized in helping women get over drug addictions. He told me that he had a bowl of my cards in his office. When a patient graduated from his program, he would always reach into his bowl of cards and give his patient one. He said they loved them. I never knew until his visit here in early May. What a wonderful idea.
I share this with my fellow Coachella Valley residents so that they might find a special way to give back to the community. It doesn’t matter what you do, but service to others is where it is at. Rose Kennedy told her sons and daughters that they had been born into incredible wealth, but service to the community was where they should spend their energies. She was right.
One of my treasured stories is from a cruise to Alaska that my partner and I took with my brother and sister-in-law in 2006. Early one morning, we were enjoying the spectacular scenery of the icebergs. I decided to go to one of the bars and order a cup of coffee. As the young bartender waited on me, I gave him this card, “Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” William James. He took the card, read it and his eyes filled with tears. He quietly said to me, “You will never know how much I needed this card today. I can’t tell you why, but I had to hear these words today.” I paid for my coffee and left. I was pleased he liked the card, but to this day, I have wondered what was going on in his life that caused him to have such an emotional response.
The bottom line for readers of this column is to consider something you can do for our community to make it better. It will not only make you feel better, but you may never know how your efforts will affect others in the years to come. As Greg Louganis said, “Never underestimate your ability to make someone’s life better.”
Ray Matlock Smythe is an author/retired teacher. He has published “One Card at a Time - Stories of Inspiration” and “Coping with Grief - My Personal Journey of Overcoming Sorrow.” He lives in Cathedral City and can be reached at Rayme49@aol.com
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: My experience offering people inspirational cards changed my life
