Andy Mackie, a retired horse trainer, had 9 heart surgeries.  The resulting 15 prescriptions caused more problems than they were worth so he stopped taking them.  That’s a lot of dough for a lot of drugs.  So what did he do with the money he saved?

He figured he’d live for only about a month or so so he spent what time he had left doing what he loved.  He bought a ton of harmonicas and started teaching kids how to play, for free.

A funny thing happened.  He didn’t die.

The next month he bought more harmonicas, taught more kids.

Several more heart attacks, one more heart surgery, 11 years and 16,000 harmonicas later he’s still blowin’ the blues.  When asked why he thinks he’s still here, he says he guesses heaven doesn’t need harmonica players.

Now that’s inspirational.

The image of Andy is by Jesse Joshua Watson, an artist from Washington.  Check out this short video about a book he’s writing for children about Haiti.

Arlene Dickinson is smart, savvy and easy to listen to.  She’s CEO of Venture Communications, ‘one of Canada’s largest marketing firms’.

At a recent talk she gave, she was asked for her top advice.  Here  it is, plain and simple.

‘Thank god you don’t live in Haiti [or more recently earthquake stricken Chile].  We are blessed to live in this country.’

More specifically:

- ‘opportunities exist to get through tough times, we have freedom and democracy, we have so much’

- ‘we have to look forward, that’s what entrepreneurs do, make it happen, there’s always a market’

- ‘it’s a marathon not a sprint – take care of your diet, sleep and exercise – stay healthy.  The average millionaire in the US dies at the age of 60′

Are you sprinting or in it for the marathon?  How do yo know?

Like this post?  Here are two more about Arlene’s business philosophy.

You can be sure the people in Haiti are.  Using all their strengths that is.

Sometimes we are oblivious to our most obvious strengths.

A little girl was having difficulty lifting a heavy stone.
Her mother came along just then.
Noting the girl’s failure, she asked, “Are you using all your strength?”

“Yes, I am,” the little girl said impatiently.
“No, you are not,” the mother answered.

“I am right here just waiting, and you haven’t asked me to help you.”
-author unknown

Rebecca Solnit, author of A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster, talked of the good that can come from large-scale natural disasters – from the “improvised communities” people form “to pull each other out of the rubble” to the feeling of purposefulness, self-transcendence and even “deep joy” people experience in places where disaster hits.

Ms. Solnit speaks of survivors finding “a deep connection that is often missing” in their ordinary lives.

In a disaster, she said, “we not only do extraordinary things; we feel extraordinary things. A lot of the things that trouble us every day – whether we are lonely or feel bitter about the past – a lot of those things are brushed away.”

Natural disasters provide “an extraordinary window into social desire and possibility.” Our response to disaster gives us nothing less than “a glimpse of who else we ourselves may be and what else our society could become.”

My heart goes out to Haiti and all the remarkable people there.  May their strengths and ours combine to rebuild and reinvigorate.

And you?  Who are you?  Really.  Are you using all your strength? Really?

For some help in discovering (or rediscovering) your strengths Marcus Buckingham style see this newsletter.