A Story by Dr. Richard Schulze 
A Story by Dr. Richard Schulze
| "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you NOT to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not in some of us, it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." Nelson Mandela's Inaugural Speech, 1994 |
"Dr. Ben Spock was a leading American pediatrician and certainly not a person I agreed with until his later years in life. He eventually denounced cow's milk, suggesting it was not a good food for babies after all. Also, in the later years of his life, he became very vocal against war and the senseless killing that is constantly going on around the world. I had the opportunity to have met him once at one of the many demonstrations I attended in the 60's, 70's and 80's.
At many of these demonstrations, like Chicago in 1968 and Washington in 1969 and 1970, it got a bit rough and in order to demonstrate, we would have to scale walls and fences, sometimes even barbed wire.
Dr. Spock would arrive in his three-piece-suit looking very distinguished and neat, unlike myself, with a crash helmet on and other hippies who were dressed in peaceful battle gear.
Dr. Spock, I believe in his seventies or eighties at that time, would slowly scale the walls like a turtle, in his three-piece-suit dragging up with him a small rug or bath mat. He would place this over the barbed wire so as he crawled over it, he didn't tear his suit. He was slow moving because of his age and also his carefulness.
A reporter, on the scene of one of these demonstrations, walked up and said to him, "You must really like to do this, at your age, to go to all of this trouble and grief and risk and even jail, just to get into a demonstration." He looked at the reporter in utter disgust and said, "I hate doing this, but my conscience won't let me stop." He was a man with the financial means to easily retire and do nothing. But he couldn't, he wouldn't, because he knew that babies he delivered and loved so much, were growing up and being forced into wars, and killed; so he would not rest. As far as I know, he continued his peaceful stand against hate, war and killing up until he died.
In the many years I spent interviewing patients, not only in America but all over the world, I had the wonderful opportunity to talk with many elderly people. I also had the illuminating experience of being with many people just a few days, even a few hours before their death. For a few, I was the last person they saw. I must share with you that most of these visits were filled with regrets. The reason I am telling this to you is so we all don't make the same mistakes.
What I heard was like a condensed version of their life. People have a tendency near death to look back at their life and examine it. What I heard were the many regrets for not living life to its fullest.
I don't remember ever hearing any regrets for believing too much, trusting too much, laughing too much or loving too much. All the regrets were based on holding back, not going far enough, not giving enough, not loving enough, not taking the chance, not saying what they wanted to say, not taking the risk, not living life totally.
Let's not wait until it is too late, let's not have a list of unfulfilled wishes and unlived dreams, as the final hour approaches. Take the chance, take the leap, dare to make this life rich, and love and live it to your fullest potential."
From a Sam Biser Interview with Dr. Richard Schulze
