(FANTASY) – All is well on Penelope’s island, Sel, until a mysterious monster suddenly attacks the village and causes Penelope to fall unconscious. What this monster is and what it’s after, she doesn’t know. Yet, when those answers are discovered, the truth is even harder to grasp, and this journey will become the fight of Penelope’s life.
Listen – Read – and Check Out the Takeaway Idea Below…
Listen to the Podcast Episode:
Donate to LLS Here
Please consider donating $10 (or more!) to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. It would mean a lot to me and to so many others.
Takeaway Idea for The Power of P.
They say that in every work of fiction, there’s a bit of truth. In today’s story, that’s particularly accurate. Penelope is a real person, although she’s not a princess living on an island. She’s the daughter of my wife’s cousin, Greg. In 2020, at six years old, she was diagnosed with Leukemia. I have some insight into the challenges they faced as a family and how Penelope felt throughout this journey. But, really, I could only guess at the full scope of emotions and hurdles they went through while I was writing this story. What else was real…? Rabbit is real! The stuffed animal version of him that is. But, the most important truth is that in the Summer of 2022, Penelope rang that bell in the hospital, leaving cancer free!
As I said at the beginning of this episode, the goal of this story is to raise money for LLS (the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society). But, it also has my usual goals of filling your day with something good and making us think. And also, as usual, life seems to present certain themes at certain times.
Most recently, that theme or idea has indeed been about the Power of P—the power of people.
Before Greg recruited my wife and me to join their LLS fundraising team, which they named Team Power of P, this idea of people power came up at the school where I work. We had just witnessed—students, faculty, and parents—a battle lost regarding property being seized for a road project and many of our beautiful trees beginning to be cut down for the project. The kids watched as some of their favorite trees were brought down, knowing that more would soon fall. They didn’t know why it was happening. So, we explained the gist of it, about eminent domain, and how our school’s founder and many others fought to try and protect those trees. We learned how that effort failed years ago, and now we’re seeing the result of that.
I finished this discussion by asking them all the questions I’m going to ask you now. What is the power of a single voice? And how many voices and people does it take to make a change in our communities and our world?
For our school, the many voices that came together just weren’t enough. They needed more people power. Or, perhaps it’s about the right voices in the right positions? Maybe some voices ring louder than others? Either way, I still believe that we reach those voices by connecting with more people. Ultimately, that’s what it will always come down to: people. More and more people.
Collective thought has power, collective beliefs unite, and collective actions change things. Period.
And that’s what we’re doing now for Team Power of P. We’re collectively coming together to raise funds for LLS so they can continue their amazing work, such as helping families financially, providing free nutrition plans for patients, educating families going through this, and researching less harmful treatments for kids. That’s just a few things.
And, now I’m going to ask you… will you join this collective? Before you answer, know that I promise not to ask too much of you. Here’s how you can join in and help:
First, you can donate by following the link here. Ten dollars would be great. More would be a bonus.
Second, you can purchase a Power of P. t-shirt. All profits there will go directly to LLS.
Third, and the most important step… please share this. Power of people, right? Well, we need more people! Would you share this episode with at least three people who have not heard about it? You can post it on Facebook, sure, but could you think of three specific people to reach out to and encourage them to listen? That would have a more significant impact than just a general share (although that’s still good!). Time is a factor here, as we are fundraising until the end of May 2023. If it’s way passed that by the time you listen to this, don’t worry, you can still donate to LLS through their website, and I’d still encourage you to do so.
What’s that? You want to do more? Ok!
As you think about sharing, can you think of companies that might match donations or donate larger amounts? Let’s do it! If you need to reach me, contact me through Instagram or my website, and I can get things started with our LLS connection. Both links are in the description of this episode.
Thank you all for helping, participating, and making this episode truly, More Than a Story. Cheers to the power of people, and a very special cheers to Penelope and everyone going through similar challenges. Perhaps, before we sign off, we can collectively send our thoughts and love to them, as we all probably know someone who has gone through or is going through this. Let’s take a moment (ten seconds) and send out thoughts of power to them, the power to overcome this. We’re all here on this planet together. Let’s all root for each other. Let’s all hope for each other.
Take your ten seconds now…
All right, everyone. Thank you. Wishing all of you out there healthy, happy days ahead.
See you next time.