Ever wonder how you can do something REALLY REALLY big in our diabetes world?????? I can share with you that it really never starts out being something BIG; it has always been about starting something you believe in. Whether it grows or not does not matter—-it only matters that it be impactful…..to even an audience of just one.
The picture attached today is Walter. I was entering a store recently when I heard a car driving up and the horn blew in three distinct ‘honks’. It was done enough times in a row that it caught my attention, and quite frankly, it boarded on annoying. As I stood half-in/half-out the doorway to the store, I watched as cats came from every direction.
I may not have known what those annoying honks were, but those cats surely did and it was music to their ears. As I stood their staring, the woman behind the counter said,
“The Cat Man.”
“Excuse me?”
“That’s Walter, the cat man. Watch what happens.”
I was amazed when this little old man opened the back of his trunk and took out bottoms of boxes and dumped food on each and laid them down for the cats to eat. Interesting that some of the cats did not eat, Walter reached back in and took a different food and put THAT food in another box top and laid it down further away and some cats ran to that box because it was different food. They not only knew the horn, they knew they were getting what they liked. Twelve cats in all, four groups of three.
I was amazed as Walter went about his business. Each cat ran and rubbed up against his legs also, as if to say thank you. My face was clearly showing amazement as the lady behind the counter spoke again.
“Every day……he does the same thing everyday. In the winter he will have little huts for them to sleep in to get out of the elements also. We are not his only stop either.”
“Does it bother you that he does it?”
“I’ll tell you something, we are probably the only strip of stores with food, and commercial areas that have not seen a mouse, rat, or even an insect inside our stores in over three years since he started……………does he bother me? Not in the least.”
Now what Walter does may not seem like a big deal, but those cats think so. Each of them did not look like your typical alley cat either, they all looked like house cats with beautiful coats and great dispositions. That was because of Walter.
The take away is obvious here, and can never be overstated. It’s not what you do, it’s that YOU DO; even for just one person. Even if it is just one thing. You have that choice. At a loss at what to do this month for Diabetes Awareness Month, visit Project Blue November on their FB page—-they will give you something every day to learn and to do; or you can just pick something. Either do something; or just pass along one of their diabetes facts to five people. People who have nothing to do with our community. Send to five docs’ offices, five schools, five forms of media…..do it all month…..it’s something and something simple, but could impact many. Check it out.
Once you begin, might not be so bad to be known as the Diabetes Person; just as Walter is known as the Cat Man………a man, who by himself, without fanfare, makes a difference……………..and that’s not so bad, is it?
I am a diabetes dad.
Please visit my Diabetes Dad FB Page and hit ‘like’.