A Lifetime

There is a lot said about human nature: that we are inherently selfish creatures, mean, insecure, pessimistic. Some days, I tend to agree. There is a lot of ugliness out here in this big world we live in. We fight amongst ourselves like we're the enemies. It is so wrong.

I just spent three days being proven that all of us - every single one of us - can get along when our energy is directed not at each other, but at an outside force. In this case, that force was breast cancer.

I saw people in the last three days that were physically hurt to the point of needing serious medical help stand up and continue walking without a peep of whining. I saw women and men stop and offer assistance when they saw a stranger sitting on the side of the road massaging their feet. I saw women cheering us on with tears in their eyes and a smile on their lips, holding signs saying "Thank you" because they couldn't trust themselves to speak. I saw scars that would normally be hidden from the world displayed proudly. I saw a sea of smiles every where I looked - from the walkers and from the people cheering us on.

No. After these last three days I'm convinced that selflessness is the the rule not the exception.

Everyone I had talked with that had done one of these 3-Day walks in the past told me that after the event, your outlook on life changes. I was skeptical at first, but now I see exactly what they mean. Unfortunately, I can't think of any way to describe it other than a very large, bright smile in the pit of your stomach.

Do you want to know the final numbers for The Seattle Breast Cancer 3-Day?

3,200 Walkers walked.
400 Crew Members volunteered.

Seattle raised over $8,700,000.00 dollars. That's almost 9 MILLION dollars, people! We did good.

Over the next few days, I'll be writing about my experience walking. I was going to do it on one gigantic post, but I don't think it would do the walk justice.

More later.