Executive Director’s Message

Melissa Manchester, Executive Director

A couple months ago I wrote to you all about how our conference closing keynote speaker, Steve Gross, changed my life for the better back in 2007. After sharing that I was a little nervous that I’d oversold it…that the reality wouldn’t live up to my rose-colored memory. I needn’t have worried. If you were there for the closing session, you know what I’m talking about. This presentation, on optimism, hit me just as hard as the one over a decade earlier. I was drawing correlations to my own life (and particularly my kids’ lives), and more than once had to hold back tears. I know several of you that I spoke to after the conference were likewise moved; if any of you would like to share your stories about how this or the other two keynotes affected you, I’d love to hear from you. melissa@staff.csmfo.org One of the best things about the day for me was meeting Steve Gross and tell him what an impact his long-ago presentation had had on my life. He expressed his gratitude in learning that his speech had an effect on me, and (characteristically, I’m learning) downplayed his role in it by saying that it wasn’t all him, clearly I had been ready and waiting for a “spark.” Fast forward to Sunday night. I’m back home, chilling on my couch, checking my emails on my phone (because I can’t not) and I see an email from an address I don’t recognize, with a subject line of “THANK YOU!!” I open it, suspicious, and then quickly my distrust turns to heartwarming tears. The email was from Steve Gross’s father, Herb. See, I had emailed Steve the article I’d written about him back in December, and he’d forwarded it to his dad. His dad got my email address from that (Steve didn’t know he’d written me), and proceeded to thank me for letting his son know what an impact he’d had on my life, and how blessed they felt by what I’d written. He shared that Steve often worries at how much his work keeps him away from home, and wonders if the trade-off is worth the sacrifices. Unsolicited messages like mine, he said, “inspire him to continue the good fight” and that my message did for him (and his dad) what his message did for me in 2007.

“In my mind, it answers a tongue-in-cheek question that George Carlin once asked. The question was “If we are here to help others, what are the others here for?” The answer to the question, at least as I see it, is that sometimes we are the “we” and at other times we are the “they.”” I’m sharing this with you because it so exemplifies the fact that we never know what impact our actions may have on another person. What if I hadn’t shared my story with you all? What if I hadn’t shared it with Steve? Would anything bad have happened? No. But a whole lot of good wouldn’t have happened either. I’d like to encourage you all to share your stories. Tell the people who have made a difference in your lives what an impact they’ve had. Be brave enough to make yourself that vulnerable. I guarantee you someone somewhere needs to hear it. And if you were likewise moved by Steve Gross’s presentation, I encourage you to let him know. steve@ligplaymakers.org