The history books are full of stories of gifted people whose talents were overlooked until someone believed in them. Einstein was four years old before he could speak. Isaac Newton did poorly in primary school. A newspaper editor fired Walt Disney because he had 'no good ideas'. Tolstoy dropped out of university. There's a lesson here: people develop at different rates. To motivate them you must always be on the outlook for hidden capacities. Your words create an environment in which people not only discover their gifts, but also develop and excel in them. John Erskine, Professor of English at Colombia University, was an educator, concert pianist, author of 60 books, president of the Juilliard School of Music, and a popular and witty lecturer. Writing about that remarkable career, his wife, Helen, attributed it to his 'defiant optimism'. 'He was a good teacher,' she said, 'because of his own excitement for learning and his trust in the future.' He would say to her, 'Let's tell our young people that the best books are yet to be written; the best paintings have not yet been painted; the best governments are yet to be formed; the best is yet to be done by them.'

In the musical My Fair Lady, Eliza Doolittle, a common flower girl, becomes an elegant lady who mixes with England's high society. How did it happen? Because Henry Higgins, the eminent linguistics professor, taught her to act like a lady - and she began living up to his expectations.

Alan Loy McGinnis writes, 'I was once waiting to speak at a sales conference where the year's awards were being given. One woman, who'd performed spectacularly and made an extraordinary amount of money, gave all the credit to her sales manager. As she stood before a crowd of 3,000 people, clutching the award for best producer of the year, she recalled the slump she'd been in for two years previously. The future looked so bleak that she was ready to resign, and had even called her supervisor several times to quit. But the manager kept persuading her that she hadn't tried long enough, that she would not have been hired if there had not been unusual potential in her. Her voice cracked as she related the story. Then she made this insightful remark: "For all those months when I wanted to quit and didn't think I had any future, Joan believed in me more than I believed in myself. She wanted me to succeed even more than I did."'

One of the attributes of true Christian character is a willingness to encourage and lift people: '...I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you' (Isaiah 41:13). So, in your dealings with others, are you problem-focused or possibility-focused?

God bless you,

In Mary Help of Christians,

I remain,

Fr. Jim McKenna SDB

Director