I once saw a fun demonstration by a speaker who took a crisp Twenty dollar bill out of her pocket. She asked his audience, “Who here would like to receive this Twenty-dollar bill?” To this, of course everyone raised their hands eagerly. She then crumpled the Twenty-dollar bill in her hand so that it became very wrinkled. She then asked, “Now how many of you would like to receive this bill?” To which everyone’s response was hands high up in the air.
She proceeded to crumple the bill, throw it down on the ground and stepped on it severely. She even poked a hole through it with her heel. Then she poured a little coffee on it, picked it up and asked the questions again. “NOW, how many of you still want this disgusting thing?” Everyone was still eager to receive it.
Then with some great acting skills she said to herself, “I know what I will do!” She proceeded to rip the Twenty-dollar bill in half and held the two pieces up in the air. Asking once more, “Now, who still wants this?” … everyone’s arm went up.
She then asked why everyone still wanted the bill even though it had been crumpled, stepped on, poured coffee on, was ripped in half and was just disgusting. She was then given the correct answer that it didn’t matter just how destroyed a twenty-dollar bill or any American tender was, if the bearer of the same still held the majority of the bill in their hand, the bill still retained its value and could be redeemed for a new one at any American bank.
Then I ask you the reader, how is it that we are so eager to redeem the battered twenty-dollar bill, yet we have not the same enthusiasm to redeem the battered people in around us, and even more importantly how come we are not this eager to redeem the parts of us that has taken a beating in life.
The truth is that, like the twenty-dollar bill you still retain your value, in fact the beatings you have taken make you stronger and more valuable as they make you a being who can connect with those others who might be walking through the same valley as you did. Like the US banks will do with the bill, life will redeem you if you ask it to and let it. Begin by forgiving those who need to be, most of all yourself. Then life will trade all the events that were destructive and replace them with new experiences of Health, Abundance, and Laughter…if you let it…guaranteed.
Shayla Rivera
#AwarenessBeginsChange