Live an Extraordinary Life

I haven't blogged in a long time. I have at least five posts percolating but they all will have to keep bubbling as this one can't wait. I need to write.

Today I was fortunate to be at the funeral of a truly remarkable person. The strange thing is I never had the honour of meeting him. He is the step-son of a colleague, and I went to support her and the family. But from what I learned at the service the world has lost a truly special being.

He lived his life in service to others. He was a paramedic, had served on numerous Search & Rescue teams around the Lower Mainland of Vancouver, trained hundreds of first responders and search teams. He was well respected and liked. He was an avid outdoorsman. The church was full with close to, if not over, a thousand people in attendance. The honour guard was made up of paramedics, search and rescue, Vancouver Police...every service was represented as his life and work had touched them all. Every uniform you can imagine filled the pews. His brother and dad gave the eulogy and it was so moving.

This man that I will never meet seemed like he could have been a friend. He's my age, likes the same music, loves the outdoors, his family...but for geography of where we grew up he could have been one of our group.

Rollie led a truly extraordinary life. And I don't believe he ever set out in that pursuit. He simply wanted to help and serve.

I was at a luncheon yesterday where Mia Farrow was the keynote speaker. She said many things that hit home, but one in particular stuck with me. She said "Don't look for happiness, you will never find it. Look for a way to help and happiness will find you." She never looked for her life to be extraordinary, but it certainly is.

Some people set out to be famous and in this age of reality television and YouTube even the least talented individual can make that happen if their timing is right.Some people set out to change the world. Some people set out to make a difference. These are HUGE, somewhat intangible concepts. Where do you even begin?

But if you set out to help, to look for a way to help, as Rollie and Mia did, then you will definitely make a difference. You just might change the world.