Be ONE

One July afternoon.
People walking together.
All as one.

A group of people with different backgrounds.
People with ties to three continents.
Europe. Africa. North America.
All walking together.
All as one.

A group of people with different socioeconomic backgrounds.
Some have their kids taking piano lessons. Others tennis lessons.
And some work hard just to make ends meet.
All walking together.
All as one.

A group of people of different demographics.
Young, and young at heart, all walking together.
All as one.

What does it take to get people together?
People from different backgrounds?
Different socioeconomic classes?
Different demographics?

A call for help.

Just a few words:

Need Help!!!
Sunny flew away.
If you see him, please call me

And within minutes (literally) a group was formed.
And start searching for a lost, and scared, little Sunny.
My feathered-kid.

This happened two years ago this month.
And for me it’s still a lesson that keeps on giving.
A lesson in kindness.
A lesson of what it means to live in a strong, closely-knit community.

“… my husband and I will be there in 10 min.”
Janet and Steve – husband and wife team
You both, and Jill, (the ‘first responders”) provided much needed support from the beginning.

“When you get him home, his feathery little butt is grounded, really!!
Robin, using ‘when” not ‘if’ – words are important.
And can make a big difference. It gave me much needed hope

“Come inside. You need to eat something!”
Kay Lynn, insisting to feed me breakfast..
(I didn’t. But before I turned to leave there was a coffee in my hand.
Strong, much needed coffee.)

You and Dave helped so much.
Especially that evening when Sunny was hovering above.
And you stopped the cars from entering the street.

And many other acts of kindness.
But I’ll stop here.

What was NOT said was just as important.
NO ONE pointed out the obvious mistake I’ve made:
Not keeping Sunny’s wings trimmed.
They knew I was thinking – and berating myself about it – EVERY second.
Sometime being kind is just NOT adding more to the burden someone is already carrying.

 *   *   *   *   *   *   *

I’m forever grateful for all your help
And your kindness
(You can read here about Sunny’s adventure)

Where we are today
I believe our community is as strong as ever.
Yes, we do have some challenges ahead of us.
But what makes it even more challenging is the media.

The media – and its ‘fear porn’ reporting – is influencing our daily lives.

Yes, we need to take safety measures.
For us and our loved ones.
For our community.

But we can NOT, and should NOT, stop living our lives
We can’t allow media (with its sensationalized, attention-grabbing reporting) to turn us into shadows of our former selves.

Be safe
Be strong
Be ONE.

Mariana Fieraru

Mariana Fieraru, an Eastern European transplant, fell in love with her new home shortly after landing in New York. She "discovered" pizza! Years later she still loves pizza. And so do her two feathered-kids, Sunny and Flipper

Mariana worked on both, the east and the west coast.
Big or small, each project she worked on helped define the importance of gaining and sustaining a competitive edge in an increasingly complex business environment.

Business know-how, love of teaching and writing – all combined in 2006 to form OBI.
Its mission: to make learning fun! And easy.

Through its training, consulting, and publications OBI builds bridges of knowledge to take you from where you are to
where you want to go. Using a mix of serious, informal, analytical, and optimistic approach, OBI truly makes learning fun.

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