Do you remember the scene from the 1982 movie “E.T. : The Extraterrestrial”, when that adorable creature from another galaxy reminded young Elliot to “beeeee goooood”? I loved that movie. Still do. It occurs to me now how foreign (read: alien) a concept that is anymore. The novel idea that we can, and in fact we should, “be good”.
The last few months have included some difficult days in the Vittoria home. We have watched a dear friend pass away after a long illness, had a family member diagnosed with serious health issues, and over the 4th of July weekend, I had an accident with my kids in the car. Thank goodness we’re all okay, and there is a message in here for all of us leaders, all of us human be-ings….
Be good.
This series of surprising and troubling events recently, and the people I have encountered along the way, have left me astounded. Amidst periods of sadness, confusion, frustration, and flat out anger lately, I have met some of the most caring, compassionate, sensitive, and kind people in my life. Good people.
Let me take a moment to tell you about just one of them. We’ll call him “Bill”. Everybody else does, because that’s his real name. And we can all take a page out of Bill’s playbook.
Bill is the owner of a car we smashed into this weekend. This was a freak accident, right out in front of our house, and while I’ll save you all of the details – major damage to Bill’s car, and just an unbelievable set of events that still has me shaking my head. A quick word to the parents of any teen drivers out there: don’t give your child their first driving lesson with anything of any significant value nearby. Well, unless you’re looking for a really weird way to meet your new neighbor.
So Bill comes out of his house after hearing all of the smashing and crashing, and after rubbing his bald head for about thirty seconds says: “Are you okay, and is the young lady alright?” Might have expected that right? Well, what has transpired since that moment on Saturday afternoon has renewed my faith in humanity. Bill is just a really good guy. He has reminded me about the importance, and the timeliness right now in this crazy, mixed-up world we live in; of doing what E.T. told Elliot to do almost thirty years ago – be good.
In the last three days, Bill has called my family and me three times, just to see how we are doing. Reality check – I had never met this man, and we totaled this guy’s brand new car twenty-four hours after he and his wife moved into their brand new home. Bill has told me not to worry, not to be concerned about all the insurance stuff and the repairs right now, and the hassle this might be causing him. Bill has told me, instructed me actually if you can believe this, to just take care of my family right now, and that this will all work out. He told me today on the phone: “David, you seem like a good person and I want to thank you for that. I needed to meet a good person this weekend. It had been a while”.
Are you kidding me?
When has this ever happened to any of us? When have you seen this in your workplace? When have you done this with someone you’re leading right now?
When is the last time that you lifted someone up, even after they messed up or hurt you, or threatened you in some way; and thanked them for the lesson they brought you?
When is the last time you did something for someone, and afterwards said to yourself: “Wow, that was a really good thing I just did” ?
My message to you in the post is brief, and it is pretty simple – be good. Be good today. Be good tomorrow. Be especially good at those times, in those situations, and with the people that you have been least likely in the past to display your true good-ness.
Just go be like Bill. That’s what I’m going to do.
And thanks for letting me share…I feel so much better 🙂
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David Vittoria is the Founder & Chief Inspiration Officer at Ascendi – a professional training and coaching firm in Miami, Florida.
You can reach David anytime at [email protected].
Image Source: farm1.static.flickr.com
