Great Inspirations

The December 2008 issue of the Reader's Digest contains 19 well-known people who share their inspirations for all of us to benefit. This is on pages 168-194. The first story tells how Matthew and Alexandra motivated them to serve others as a result of the tragedy of Christopher Reeve in his horseback-riding accident in 1995.

One story that captivated me was by the Playwright Eve Ensler on Actors Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. Here is her story:

Here's what Paul Newman and [his wife] Joanne Woodward gave man and, I suspect, many others in the world: a gift of confidence. They were the perfect parents. I was 23. I was depressed and fragile and hardly here in the world. I was writing as a way of survival. They took me under their wing. They pushed me and fed me and criticized my scripts with red pencils. They nurtured me and encouraged me to be funny, to always be funny. Mainly, they believed in me. Because of this, I came to believe in myself. They never asked for credit. They did not hold on after I had found myself. They did not curtail my independence. They reappeared at crucial moments in the many years that followed. They were always in my corner. Here's what they taught me: generosity. They taught me that if you have or make money, you are not special, just lucky. They taught me to never make people beg or jump through loops, because that implies you have a hoop. You do not have a hoop; you have money. They taught me that the only real happiness comes from giving. And becauset he two of them lived everything they spoke, they taught me about integrity. I can't imagine this world without Paul Newman [he died this past September]. But I know his generosity, his gift of confidence, lives in many of us, and if there is a way to appreciate him, it is giving deeper and deeper.

How does this touch your life?

John Willis