The world is in a funk.  The news is depressing. Fear grips many. Sales of anti-depressants are up.

As I walk out of my door this afternoon to go skiing in the fresh powder that has graced the Rockies, I drop my skis onto the ground and begin to step into the bindings. The lift is only a few feet away.  I look up and notice an extraordinary sight that stops me in mid-motion - the parked wheelchairs of a group of amputees who have gone skiing.

I take out my cell phone so that I can share with you the image that I saw here a few hours ago.

These positive thinkers - these owners of can-do attitudes - these examples for the rest of us - they aren’t whining, complaining or becoming victims of fear or anger - they are playing in two feet of fresh powder in one of the most beautiful places on earth - the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.

Yes there is a lot of pain around us all.  But this beautiful image reminded me that a disadvantage can also be reframed as just another way to do something.  As Rahm Emanuel, President-elect Obama’s White House Chief of Staff has said, “You don’t ever want a crisis to go to waste; it’s an opportunity to do important things that you would otherwise avoid.”

Let’s not waste this crisis.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 4th, 2008 at 11:20 pm and is filed under Courage, Inspiration, Leadership, Oneness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.