Thrive: Using Your Talents to Help Others
After auditioning for a six-hour play adaptation of many Greek tragedies combined, and not getting a part — not even in the chorus — disappointed and distraught I got on the bus to go to my singing lesson on the Upper West Side when I started to notice the faces of the other passengers. Each one of them looked burdened, their worries the only thing showing in their expressions. As I looked at everyone around me, I was filled with compassion, and the understanding that their disappointments were probably much bigger than mine. If only I could bring some joy onto this bus, I thought.
And then I realized that I could. I could act right here! I could entertain these people for a brief moment. I could do a song and dance right here and now! And with that thought, I broke down the barriers. I reached out to the woman next to me, struck a conversation, and asked her if she liked the theater. We started talking about our favorite plays and characters, and I told her that I had just performed the part of Saint Joan for an audition. She knew the play, and we had an unexpectedly wonderful conversation. In my enthusiasm, I said to her, “Would you like me to do Joan’s monologue for you?” “I would love that,” she replied. The first words of the monologue are: “You promised me my life, but you lied. You think that life is nothing but not being stone dead.” As I said the words, the woman’s face started to change. I could see that she was being touched; I was being touched as well, sharing my talent for a moment, on a New York bus.
