Many years ago a 6 year old girl went on a field trip with her kindergarten class.

As part of this field trip there were games the children played in which they competed against each other. 

One of these games was called a three legged race where two people have one of their legs tied to one of the other person’s leg. Then they would race as a team against the other competitors.

On this particular day the young girl, who by her own admission was terrible at sports, happened to be paired up with the second most athletic boy in her class.

She was terrified because this boy was a winner and in her mind they didn’t have a chance to win because of her horrible sports ability.

The race started and they got out in front quickly. As they made it to the half way point most of the other competitors were stumbling and falling down.

While still on their feet, the girl and her athletic partner turned and headed back towards finishing the race.

They were out in front as they approached the finished line. The next closest couple was several yards back and didn’t have a chance.

And then just a few feet from the finish line disaster struck as the 6 yr. old girl tripped and fell.

They were so close to the finish line that all her partner had to do was easily drag her across the finish line and they would win.

Instead, he stopped, reached down and helped her up at the same time the other couple crossed the finish line. They lost the race. 

When her class graduated high school 12 years later, this same girl gave the  Valedictory speech to the same group of students who were in that field day race.

During her speech she told everyone about that little boy, who 12 years earlier made a split second decision to help a friend rather than win a race. 

And it was something she didn’t do during this speech which was surprising and applies to you…

But first I want you to think about this for a moment.

Is this how you would love life to be? 

And along with this the obvious question that comes up is…

Could life possibly be this way? 

Now most likely you won’t be in situations where you’re helping someone up while running a three legged race. For you it’s going to be a real life situation. It could be a financial situation. A relationship situation. A situation where you may find yourself choosing between helping a friend or going off and doing something else.

But the question still remains…

Could life actually consist of caring enough to help someone out instead of just letting them fall down while being only concerned about getting what you want?

It can when it comes to you. Because you can make that choice to help out others. And most importantly to do so in a way that is fair so everyone involved can benefit.

But what about when other people don’t stop to help? What about when someone else doesn’t have the time to help you out?

The fact is that the world we live in will have those moments. And that’s ok . Because it’s not what happens that counts, it’s how you perceive it.

Yes they’ll be times when someone will stop to give a helping hand. Then they’ll be other times when someone won’t. And by handling that situation as a fulfillment driven person you’ll see both the positives and negatives in it.

In fact, at times someone not helping you out may actually be beneficial to you, and in the long run does help you out even more.

For example…

Let’s say you have a habit of asking everyone to loan you money. On the surface it may seem like a “good” thing that someone is helping you out. However, when this becomes a habit it makes you dependent and doesn’t help you to grow. It doesn’t help you to be able to take on challenges. It stunts your independence.

Now of course there are certain situations that come up when having someone loan you money is vital. This is true with any form of help.

The point here, however, is that you don’t want people over supporting you…you want an equal amount of support and “healthy” challenge.

This is important to understand because at times someone may not be purposely helping you and unless you realize that you’ll be quick to unfairly label them.

When you become aware of this you’ll realize that the person that you perceive as not helping is much like that boy in the race who reached down and helped a fallen friend up.

At times this may not be obvious and unless you’re aware of what to look for you won’t see it.

And with that said let’s get back to what the girl didn’t do during her speech which was surprising and applies to you.

As she was up on stage telling the story of the little boy that helped her up during that race, she told everyone in the audience that she wouldn’t identify the boy…even though he was right up on stage with her.

Why?

Because in truth every one of the guys up on the stage with her had been that little boy at some point. Each of them were someone who helped out when she fell down while taking the time out from pursuing their own goals to helping another person in need.

You see, this is a reminder that you don’t have to be a “winner” in the eyes of the world to be a winner to those closest to you. 

As you go through life some people will judge you as being a success. And some will see you as a failure. But the people closest to you as well as yourself will know the truth…

And the truth is that you’re both a success and failure and you need both.

Because unless you have the failure you won’t be able to succeed. And having both is what makes you a fulfillment driven person…

And it gives you the highest probability of achieving all that you would love to have in your life.

And it is certainly the most effective way of realizing how magnificent of a person you really are.

Always remember…

It’s the “little big things” that make all the difference in the world.

It’s those moments that you think no one is paying attention or that they just forgot about it over time…

Just like that 6 year old boy who reached out and helped up a fallen friend.

And it’s moments like this that you get to see how much you do matter even if you haven’t fully realized it yet.