I love Gladys. Gladys is one of my greatest success stories in a personal mission of mine that began in the year 2000. You may remember the movie with Kevin Spacey and Helen Hunt that tells the story of a young boy, Trevor McKinney, played by Haley Joel Osment, who tries to make a positive difference in the lives of three complete strangers in response to a school assignment named "Pay It Forward."
According to the story, it was Trevor's teacher who had come up with the idea that if each and every one of us committed ourselves to help only three other people, and they would in turn do the same for three more and so on, it would eventually lead to an ever widening circle of benefactors and beneficiaries, which could eventually improve many people's lives.
Like many who saw the movie, I was instantly intrigued by this simple and yet compelling idea. As a health counselor, and perhaps even more so as a writer, I hope to have some positive impact on others once in a while. So, I didn't think that reaching out and offering a helping hand would be such a mind-altering experience for me.
With Gladys, however, things were different. She is not and has never been a patient of mine. I first met her at her work place, and that's the only place I've ever encountered her. She is a check-out clerk at the grocery store I usually go to.
Initially, I must have been quite a nuisance for her. Since I buy mostly fresh vegetables, my preferred food items don't come canned or packaged, and they don't have bar codes printed on them. That caused her some extra work.
Over time, however, as Gladys and I came to know each other better, she began to ask questions. In fact, she became quite curious about my cooking plans and how the different vegetables and fruits I bought would be prepared. She herself, as she readily confessed, had never really bothered with cooking a meal from scratch. "Too much work," she said and "besides, I don't even have a real kitchen at home." I explained that even a microwave oven would suffice for most home cooking recipes.
Eventually, Gladys was comfortable enough to confide in me her concerns about her 12-year-old son's eating habits. Since she was a working single mom, her kid was mostly on his own on most days and many evenings as well. Sitting down for a meal as a family practically never happened. Gladys was worried.
So we talked for a while about the basics of nutrition and the importance of healthy eating habits, especially at a young age.
We also came up with some realistic solutions that would work for her special situation. What started out as a casual chat between a grocery store employee and a regular customer, soon turned into serious counseling sessions - although in a rather informal venue, such as a parking lot.
To make a long story short, Gladys herself now eats the same kind of food as I do. And, more importantly, so does her son. The real coup, however, is that Gladys now volunteers some of her free time to teach the importance of healthy eating to other parents in her community. She even organizes regular meetings as a part of the PTA at her son's school. Her expertise as a grocery store employee gives her a lot of clout in that regard and I am tremendously proud of her.
Go Gladys! Pay it forward and change the world!
Timi Gustafson is the author of "The Healthy Diner - How to Eat Right and Still Have Fun." Her book is available in bookstores and online at www.thehealthydiner.com or at Amazon.com - To receive her free monthly newsletter by e-mail, you may send a request to tmg@timigustafson.com[[In-content Ad]]
