I had a first hand experience today that once again reassured me that when people whisper something about about a person, a house, or even a situation, they believe it to be all the more true. Someone called today and said they’d heard that a particular listing of mine was infested with carpenter ants and one time. I was absolutely shocked to hear something so absurd. I was very disturbed in hearing this and asked the caller to find out the name of the person considered to be the source of this supposed fact, because I personally want to have a chat with that person. We will see if I get a call back.
I received somewhat of a kick in the teeth today in seeing a home listed by a competitor which I spent numerous hours of time in valuations, correspondence, multiple times being grilled, and supplying more data to all interested parties. Having been involved in similar situations before, I was all the more resolute in not being pulled into a dark arena. I wish them all well and certainly everything they deserve. It was a bit of a coincidence that someone asked me in a general way if I’ve ever walked away from working with a buyer or seller. I said, “I sure have.” She was shocked to hear that. I added to that remark, “Keep in mind, I’ve been doing this likely before some of the trees arrived, and when something doesn’t “smell” right in the beginning, it’s certainly going to stink before it’s all over.” These situations have been few and far between over the years, but having it happen more than twice, I quickly learned to simply back away.
I had an opportunity to speak with one of the most loving and caring people I know who shared a most heart-felt story regarding someone who was at death’s doorstep, and with the help of prayer, a life was saved. Over the years, I’ve read accounts of groups of the most selfless people gathering and entering into states of deep and absolute selfless prayer where medical miracles took place. Some of the accounts were even performed in settings of scientific study and the date gathered, confirmed in sometimes the slightest of ways, the healing power of prayer. Hearing this account created an even brighter day.
There are times when I get chided by others for doing pro bono work for others. I really don’t put a price on the little extras I do for people simply because I consider it a bit of paying forward as well a subtle form of lesson learning for them. Living in a world of copycats, I consider it a challenge at times in my attempts to create good ideas and habits with others. We can’t always lift ourselves up, so the second best thing is to start lifting each other up. The more we consider the lifting up of each other in a grand way, a whole community could be lifted up until the last person remains, and that person would then be pulled up by all those already lifted. How can we possibly be so un-selfish in making a commitment to help someone who’s neither related nor has an end financial value to you for the help in the lift up? I wonder if there’s ever been a society in existence since the beginning of recording. It would be a great case study for a Sociology doctorate. Likely the research would have to be considered a hypothesis since I know of no homogenous community where this exists in today’s world. It would be cause for some grand debates on the subject of helping someone up.
