I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

-- Maya Angelou

These are powerful words. I am not sure how they fit with me, since under Usual, I am an 80 B and under stress a 65 A. How people feel about me is only mildly motivating when I am under stress. Under normal conditions, though, how people will feel about me is not relevant in determining my actions. Of course, if there is a strong likelihood that people might think I was stupid for following a certain course of action, I would probably think about the action a little more carefully.

Have a forgotten people that made me feel strongly about something? Well, yes. I have forgotten all the est trainers I ever had. Even Werner is a dim memory in my mind. But wait! I took a Making a Difference seminar in New York, 1979 at Penn Central Station. This experience allowed me to feel that I made a difference. I was so moved/inspired that I signed up as a Save The Children sponsor for 21 years.

Oh, I see. The other est trainers created a space for me to be moved, but it was not personal. Any emotions that I felt were stimulated by my own emotional processing.

So, what has happened to my wanting to make a difference? I got mad at Save the Children (STC) in 2001 and cancelled my sponsorship. I cancelled Dick's too. Wow. Vindictive. I want to look for another sponsorship organization that does not treat sponsors simply as accounts to be billed. I had noticed that over the years, STC billing practices got to be more offensive and aggressive. Finally, they sent me a dunning letter for not making my annual 2001 contribution. They had given Dick credit for both of the annual donations ($400) that we made. They had assume the excess to be a gift from Dick ($200) and sent me an offensive bill for another $200. I wrote them in anger canceling our accounts. They did not bother to respond, but continued to send me a couple more dunning letters! They continue to send me bills each year. I discard them.

Anyway, I still feel empowered when remembering the seminar. That memory was a strong link for me when seeing About Schmidt. When I had my company, I always had postcards sent to each child each year. I tried to pick postcards that represented Hawaii. I have never received an acknowledgement from any of the children that they received the cards. Perhaps, I should have followed up. Now, I wonder if STC ever bothered to forward the cards on. Guess I'll never know.