We Never Know How Many Lives We Touch
Yesterday, I was at a celebration to honor an old, dear friend who had recently retired from a long, distinguished career as an architect. We were in a lovely hall his wife had beautifully decorated with drawings, plans, elevations, and photos of various projects he had conceived and built. Over a career spanning fifty years, he’d completed more than 500 projects. There were homes, university buildings, veterans’ memorials, civic buildings, all of them beautiful, unique, and highly practical.
A number of us spoke movingly of our friendship with him, what it was like to work with him, and what it was like to live in the houses he designed. The room was filled with love for a man who, through his work and life, had expressed his love for humanity, and his desire to improve people’s lives.
Not many of us have a chance to hear a collection of friends and colleagues talk about how our work, and our life, have touched them, and that’s a shame. Despite his high level of accomplishment, my friend is a modest man. Like most of us, he probably underestimates the power of the contributions he’s made through his work and life. To see him come face-to-face with dozens of people who came to testify on his behalf filled me, and all of us, with joy.
Throughout the party, I watched him soaking it in. His daughters were there to honor their father, which made things even nicer for him. Very simply, he was presented with irrefutable evidence of the true effect he’s had on people’s lives. The love and gratitude everyone felt was palpable. He would have had to have been insane not to believe all the heartfelt things his friends and colleagues were saying, and my friend is not insane.
What the event makes me think of is the vast difference between accomplishment and fulfillment. My friend’s sense of accomplishment may have been slightly enhanced by what he heard. I can’t speak to his level of fulfillment before yesterday, but I’m pretty sure the party increased his sense of fulfillment considerably, because here’s the difference between accomplishment and fulfillment. Accomplishment is what we’ve done. Fulfillment comes from how what we’ve done has touched other people’s lives. In other words, fulfillment has to do with our connection to other people, to the bigger world, and to life.
Think about this: who in your life has done something for you that touched you or made a difference for you? Even if you’ve already thanked them in the past, have you done it recently? A few words from you could help a friend, or parent, or mentor who made a difference in your life, bridge the gap between a sense of accomplishment, and a sense of fulfillment.
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