If you think you are too small to make a difference, try spending the night in a closed room with a mosquito.

 Good morning,

I pray the day finds you well.

Well, it is that time again. I was reminded (the older I get, the more reminding comes my way. I will have to figure out why this happens one of these days. I am sure I will have to be reminded to look into this). It is time for me to write my little blurb for the YMCA Newsletter for April. I seem to do a lot of writing; after this I will have to write a What a YMCA chaplain does document for an upcoming all staff training. More than likely I will have to be reminded to do that as well. 

Oh yes, the newsletter and the being reminded conversation.. I asked what the value of the month for April was going to be. I was told it is Service, that got me to thinking, actually it got me to thinking about Jim Buckley my dad. Actually, Jim is my wife Laurie's dad which technically makes him my in-law. but, as you know, I don't have in-laws. If one has in-laws, then they must have out-laws. there are no out-laws in my family, so I only have family. For more on this topic you can read one of my old posts where we talked about In-laws and Out-laws. I would tell you when I wrote it, but I forgot. 

Back to Jim.

Jim was the Executive Director of the Mankato Minnesota Family YMCA. Jim was a humble man. To meet him you would think that he had not done anything remarkable in his life, other than raise some fantastic kids. 

Here is a quick list of Jim's accomplishments:

• 1962'ish-Helped bring Martin Luther King Jr. to Mankato to speak.
• 1969'ish - Walked a 100 mile walk of reconciliation to reconcile the Sioux with:
• The city of Mankato
• Blue Earth County
• State of Minnesota
• 1972'ish-Held the first Pow-Wow at Sibley Park and it still goes on today.
• Hired the first Catholic nun to work in his YMCA (remember back in those days Protestants and Catholics didn't hang around together (I do remember that!). 

Jim had many obstacles to overcome, many conversations to make these things happen, late nights, early mornings. These things were not easy to accomplish.

There were many people that told Jim, "You will never make that happen." Jim never let them get him down. He just did it anyway. I am reminded of a quote, "The one who says it can’t be done should get out of the way of the one who is doing it."[1]

Most of us are paralyzed by the Bystander Effect. The bystander effect, or our tendency to wait for others to act rather than acting ourselves.[1]

Don't be derailed by the, "It can't be done people." Don't be a bystander. No matter how small you think you are, you can and will make a difference. If you think I am wrong, just remember, "If you think you are too small to make a difference, try spending the night in a closed room with a mosquito."

--African Saying[1]

Something to think about.

Blessings,

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[1]Stearns, Richard. The Hole in our Gospel. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson), 2009. 250. 

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[1]David Wallace-Wells, The Uninhabitable Earth: Life after Warming. (New York: Tim Duggan Books), 2019. 159. 

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[1]Stearns, Richard. The Hole in our Gospel. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson), 2009. 274.