I’ve been waiting to profile Glenda Watson Hyatt, who inspires me beyond words for her dedication to blogging despite her use of only her left thumb.
I met Glenda via Facebook, through one of my Age of Conversation co-authors, and became mesmerized by her clarity of vision to educate the public about cerebral palsy and end the ‘pity party’ with her fabulous venture and book titled, “I’ll Do It Myself.”
Truth be told, whenever I grow weary of late night hours in passionista mode, I look to Glenda’s blog for a boost of ‘buck up, baby’ realizing that whatever I’m doing, she’s doing in triplicate…Kind of like the Ginger Rogers/Fred Astaire “dancing backwards in high heels” bit.
Glenda is vying for the honor of getting paid to “Blog For A Year” so I’m striving to shine the spotlight on her experiences living with cerebral palsy to motivate and inspire others to think about how they perceive their own situation and their own world around them.
With that in mind, I’ll point you to Glenda’s most recent post in her Reader’s Café about holiday stress, and also reprint her fabulous “What We Can Learn From Rudolph” piece with her permissions and blessings.
I urge you all to think about how Rudolph’s conundrum of being “different” translates to youth and the “odd girl out” playground posse…for it pertains to children throughout the globe. Merry Christmas. Here’s Glenda, who is a gift in and of herself:
What We Can Learn From Rudolph by Glenda Watson Hyatt
From age two to ninety-two, we all know these fun lyrics:
Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer
had a very shiny nose.
And if you ever saw him,
you would even say it glows.
All of the other reindeer
used to laugh and call him names.
They never let poor Rudolph
join in any reindeer games.
Then one foggy Christmas Eve
Santa came to say:
“Rudolph with your nose so bright,
won’t you guide my sleigh tonight?”
Then all the reindeer loved him
as they shouted out with glee,
Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer,
you’ll go down in history!But, how many of us see the valuable lesson here?
Rudolph is teased and ostracized because he is different. He is excluded from reindeer games for the sole reason that his nose glows bright red. How heartbreaking is that?
In the classic Christmas special, a dejected Rudolph and his elf friend, mocked for his dream of becoming a dentist, head out to find a place of acceptance and happen across the Island of Misfit Toys; segregation at its finest.
It takes the fog to come down for the big guy (possibly the employer) Santa to realize the value in a bright, shiny nose. And that’s the point when Rudolph is duly recognized for his unique ability, giving us the Christmas story that we know and love.
But this story leaves me thinking about the other parts of the story — the bits that didn’t make it to the song.
I am left wondering how many other reindeer before Rudolph were discarded because their unique ability or talent wasn’t valued.
However, I am comforted in believing that discriminating practice will not be repeated when Rudolph and his reindeer friends retire and new flying reindeer are chosen to pull the sleigh.
After all, believing everyone is welcomed and accepted is part of the magic of Christmas!
Rudolph teaches children young and old about the importance of valuing diversity and inclusion.
Without this reindeer’s different coloured nose, Christmas was surely doomed to be cancelled that foggy night. With him, that lesson went down in history!
Bravo, Glenda…
I urge you to learn from her ‘best practices’ and wisdom in social media as well, for she’s got nine great tips for how to campaign for votes and champion a cause…(a great benefit for us all!)
We have much to learn from this tenacious lady!
Right now she’s holding firm at slot #3, so if we can boost her up a tad, let’s give it a go! Add a badge, donate, or just click and support for free!
The final deadline is New Year’s Eve, so get to it…let’s make Glenda #1 for 2008!
Here’s the Blog For A Year site, (wish I would’ve submitted myself, honestly!) nevertheless…Glenda’s a fab alternative, so vote daily, and OFTEN and please spread the word! She also has a ‘fan’ club on her Facebook profile for inspired social media hounds like me…
Cheers, Glenda…your lessons go far beyond Rudolph and Frosty…and I hope they’re ‘Shaping Youth’ everywhere…
Rock on! And may your days be merry and bright…
Visual Credit: Istockphoto…my new supplier of paid photo feeds, but…um…I can’t quite figure out the nuances of getting the watermark out of the image, as I keep getting error codes saying the file’s too large to retain the thumbnail. Help?
(I’m a novice, what can I say!? Tech support? Geek chic gals? Er…S.O.S.?)
Happy holidays…thanks for sharing your knowledge and spirit!
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