A Successful Life

Trying to impress me with his techno savvy Jim Withers sent me a text two minutes before it was on television. “Turn it to ABC.” He is a great writer always getting to the essence of what he wants to communicate.

So I wandered in from the Beloved Back deck, grabbed the remote and turned it from the football game that I wasn’t watching. And there he was. Dr. Jim Withers practicing medicine on the streets of Pittsburgh. It was a two minute spot that did a good job conveying the passion and the impact of his work developing systems that take health care to people living on the streets.

Before I could respond he wrote me again. “I just posted a message on Face Book while driving…satisfied?”

Like most great people, Jim wasn’t even watching his own national press coverage. He was off somewhere. It would be very hard to not love Jim. A production company once approached him about doing a movie based on his work but he was afraid that it would exploit homeless people so he declined. I really blew a gasket over this but Jim just blew me off.

Doctors with a heart? Go figure!

It got me thinking about the thing that makes a life successful. People who think that it is money, titles, position or status are dead wrong. I think that most people define success these ways and I simply believe that they are dead wrong.

It is passion.

Jack Kingston who is a friend of mine and a Congressman (I know, I know … forgive him for what he does) and I were once sitting in his office at the Capitol. Well I was sitting. It was the end of the day and he was lying on the sofa because he had thrown his back out. I was actually staring at Meg who really runs things from Jack’s office because she is quite hot.

“You know what I like about you Elliott?” Jack said to the ceiling.

“What?” I asked without taking my eyes off of Meg or being especially concerned about Jack’s back.

“All these people come to me asking me to give them money for something that they’re passionate about. Meaning they want money so that they can pay themselves to do what they really want to do.”

“Ummmm,” I said as Meg leaned over to get something.

“But you figured out how to fund your passion. Then when you come up here asking for things it is all about the passion and not about you.”

I actually took my eyes off of the very hot Meg and looked at the not-so-hot Republican Congressman lying there on his Republican couch. He sat up and looked at me.

“Seriously,” he said looking me dead in the eye.

While I never got anywhere with the very hot Meg, Jack’s words have stuck with me. A successful life is doing the things that you are passionate about. I have been fortunate enough to have built a career doing the things that I care the most about.

When I was in St. Martin I was frustrated one day because I learned of impending changes at Union Mission. While I understand that it’s not mine anymore I still care passionately about it So I couldn’t stand it any more and called a Board Chairman who chooses to remain anonymous and told him that I wanted to meet with him. I couldn’t stand seeing it taken backwards steps.

“Why would you care?” he asked.

At that moment I knew that there was no reason to go any further. We speak different languages. Our lives have different goals. One of us is from Venus; the other from Mars. One goes to Church. The other internalizes Scriptures.

And that shut the door.

In complete honesty, I should have left Union Mission a couple of years before my sub-conscious self orchestrated my leaving. My passions were elsewhere; with Jim cultivating a movement of street medicine. Dancing across the country helping other people take the things that they are passionate about and advancing those causes.

So here I sit staring at Fran’s thousand shades of green and watching Goddess eat rawhide on the Beloved Back Deck. Inside is a list of things to do. There are people who fill my heart. I will be determined about them all.

These are the things that I am passionate about. I have a lot to do today.