Inspiration

Comes From Anywhere

Inspiration can come from any direction. My parents were always my best teachers and I’ve written about them many times.

Rather than ever preaching, my dad inspired me most often by his quiet actions. For instance, I remember years ago while my husband was a combat medic in Vietnam, I was living at home and working nearby. Daddy was up early one morning. It was a Saturday, so he wasn’t headed to work.

I asked if he was going out and he said the Red Cross was at one of the elementary schools for their blood drive. He said he had been donating blood every time he was medically allowed to for years. Then he asked if I would like to come along and donate, too.

I went with him that morning, feeling I was doing at least a small part toward the war effort —who knows, the blood I donated might save a soldier’s life, maybe even my husband’s. It was something I started that day and I would continue to whenever I got the chance, although never with the same conviction daddy displayed.

I never knew that about dad. He was an inspiration, especially when he told me he had already donated over 8 gallons. He even had a small pin from the Red Cross, an award for donating 8 gallons. 8 gallons! My God, he had quietly donated a total of 64 times. That’s SIXTY-FOUR pints of blood and he never said a word about it, until I asked that day.

Eight gallons of life-saving blood.  That’s truly amazing.

That’s how a lot of inspiring people, like my dad, inspire others to do something.  They don’t sit around and brag about it.  They just show up and DO IT.

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