Touch Points

A couple weeks back, Gail was speaking to our class about what is known as "touch points." A particularly inspirational lecture, touch points are a term inspired by Gail's mother who passed away a year earlier. In a nutshell, a touch point is a way that one human connects with another. I believe that touch points happen in two different ways: physically and emotionally. In fact, after the lecture I spent some time thinking about the touch points I had made in my life as well as those who had touched me. Below are some of the most important instances in my life where I have experienced a "touch point."

When I was 15, I got my first job at a retirement home called Plantation Estates. Plantation Estates was the place that employed 15-year olds and seemed like the right decision for me at that point in my life. Little did I know that I would meet some of the most influential people in my life. In specific, there was this woman named Elizabeth Pressley. She was a beautiful 99-year old woman who had been an educator for 50 years of her life. We immediately took to each other. She always kept a record of my work schedule and would not dine until I was in the building. On my end, I always gave her the best treatment. Although I never found out her health issues, it was evident that she was dying. I ended up leaving Plantation Estates at age 17 a year before I came to Appalachian State. For that whole year, Mrs. Pressley kept in touch with me through written cards/letters. In fact, until freshman year of college, Mrs. Pressley sent me birthday cards with $20.00 checks enclosed. The letters/cards eventually stopped and I have not heard from her for over 3 years. I can only suspect that she has passed on. If I could have one more conversation with Mrs. Pressley, I would want to tell her how important she was to me. How her conversations, her interest in me and overall love made really changed my life. I will never forget Mrs. Pressley and I wait for the day where we will be reunited.

I would like to think that there have been times in my life where I have been the person who has "touched" somebody. Instead of singing my own praises, I would like to talk about a decision I have struggled with for years. Freshman year of college, I was given the opportunity to volunteer with the Western Youth Network. WYN is essentially a big brother/little brother program that helps troubled children in the area. I loved the program and really believe that I was a good volunteer. In March of 2006, I decided that I wanted to sponsor a young 7-year old boy named Dillan as his big brother. Dillan had been waiting 2 years for a big brother mainly because WYN struggles to find men willing to volunteer as big brothers. Dillan and I immediately took to each other and I was could tell he really looked up to me. As the year wrapped up, I realized that I would not be staying in Boone for the summer. This devastated me mainly because I knew WYN would suspend my rights as his big brother (since I would not be in Boone for three months). I will never forget the day that I told Dillan I would not be his big brother anymore. He cried for an hour and begged me not to leave him. Just like his father had, I was yet another man in his life that was leaving him. Although I made the decision that I had to, I still think about the difference I could have made in that boys life. I guess in the end, he was yet another person that has deeply touched me.

The two instances above are a few of the many times in my life where I have been touched/touched somebody. Each day I have noticed the touch points that I make and I now see its enormous value. Hopefully I will have many years to come with touch points to make. I hope you have enjoyed my set of blogs but I had to save the best for last!

Seven Pounds

Last night, I watched a movie that really struck some heart strings. First, I want to say that I am definitely not a "movie crier," but I love to watch a movie with a good plot and some good drama. Seven Pounds, one of Will Smith's latest movies, is a story about a man who makes a difference in 7 people’s lives after his own personal life changing event.

Smith plays Ben Thomas, an IRS agent who begins the film by saying: "It took God seven days to create the world, and it only took me seven seconds to shatter mine." He is referring to the car accident that he caused that killed his wife and six others. Upon killing seven people, Thomas decides it is his responsibility to help seven people down on their luck. One is Emily Posa, a woman with a congenital heart defect who Thomas eventually falls in love with. Then we have a young boy who needs bone marrow, a blind man, a hockey coach who needs a liver, a social worker in need of a lung and a Mexican family in need of a new life. In the end, Thomas commits suicide so that his heart can go to Posa, his eyes can go to the blind man, the Mexican family gets his beach house, the hockey coach gets his liver and the social worker gets his lung. With his death, Thomas saves seven individuals whereas he killed seven in a car accident he caused.

I cannot begin to understand the grief that Smith's character feels. The car accident he causes kills his wife and six strangers yet he turns his grief into something positive. To me, it is uplifting that he changes the life of seven people that needed help. In fact, it almost goes back to the blog on touch points, Will Smith is touching the lives of seven people and it is all in the memory of the seven lives that he took.

My hope would be that perfect strangers could care to help each other whether or not a fatal car crash is involved. I also feel that face to face communication has changed and is getting worse as each year goes on. With the influence of the internet, we do not need to worry about using spoken communication to get what we need and this to me is sad. Although at the end of the movie, Will Smith's character kills himself so that his heart can be donated to the woman he loves, it shows us how much he truly cared about helping people in need. I think everybody should rent this movie and give it a shot. It was a very inspirational movie!