What Happens When You Find Your V.O.I.C.E.

They were a group of friends, just a small circle of people. Not much is known of the members but we know that they were there. Perhaps they shared something in common, or maybe they lived within the confines of a small community. We may never really know for they played only a small part. Their mention is brief in the recorded history. In fact, if you read their story most people skip right past the part that they played. Most teachers on the subject tend to focus on the actions of the central character in this story. They see the intrigue, the unanswered questions, and the scheming of his enemies. The central character in this story does what he always does. He faces his critics, maintains his focus, and continues to carry out his mission.

This is a story about a few men and the actions they took on one critical day in history. They were ordinary men whose names have never been told. They received only brief recognition for their efforts that day. No awards were handed out, no citations were read, and no bonuses were paid. These men spent the remainder of their lives in obscurity. Their moment of fame was so brief that even historians fail to speak of their actions beyond recounting their story. These men did what they had to do when a friend was in need. What we know of them we learn only by trying to analyze their story. We are left to imagine what their motivation might have been. How could these otherwise ordinary men act in a coordinated fashion to accomplish something so extraordinary? We may never know the rest of their story, but we can guess that these were men that had found their V.O.I.C.E.

The story begins more than two thousand years ago. The world was a different place then. All that we learned we learned from people who went from town to town telling stories. We trusted differently then. We determined the character of a man or woman by the way they lived their lives. We had ideas about fate and the future that we would laugh at today. Most people of the time lived their entire lives never leaving the town of their birth. People were born into a variety of circumstances, and rarely did anyone rise above them. In fact the common belief at the time was that your circumstances were a function of your own past. Perhaps you had committed some wrong years ago. If not your own mistakes, then the mistakes of your parents were the reason for your troubles. In those days if you obeyed the law, worked at your craft, and paid your taxes you were considered an outstanding citizen. Perhaps the world we live in today is not all that different.

But, let us go back to our small group of friends. It is likely that they lived in their town, carried out their work, obeyed the law, and paid their taxes. There is no mention in history of this but we can imagine that they were pretty much like everyone else. In their midst the men apparently had a friend. It seems from reading the story that their friend was different. Based on what we know of the time their friend must have come from the wrong family. Maybe he had not followed the law or committed some other transgression. While we do not know what caused his life to go astray, we know from the story that something in his history left this man unable to walk. We know that his past did this to him because everyone at the time believed that your parents, or your background, or your circumstances dictated what your life was going to be. This man clearly came from the wrong side of the tracks and we know this because he could not walk. There was nothing to be done about this. The common expectation was that this man would and rightly should accept his fate. Perhaps he served as an example for everyone else. Obey the law, go to work, and hope for a proper birthright. Do these things and you will not end up like this man unable to walk and forced to live a miserable life.

We don’t often think that the opportunity for our personal greatness will come in the form of making the life of someone else better. That would be the view of people that have not yet found their V.O.I.C.E. A life without V.O.I.C.E. is lived without making an impact on your surroundings. A life without V.O.I.C.E. conforms to conventional measures of success and happiness. A life without V.O.I.C.E. tells us to seek wealth, beat the competition, avoid the less fortunate, put on the accepted face, and get what you can for you and your family. Our obscure heroes found their V.O.I.C.E. They knew that the life of their friend could be changed by their efforts. Because they had found their V.O.I.C.E. they believed that they could do something that had little benefit for them, but would yield great things for their suffering friend.

I imagine that the plan of our small circle of friends was simple in its beginning. We take our friend to the man that we heard could cure his disease. We take him there, we see the man, he cures our friend, and perhaps later on we can all go out to dinner together. Little did these friends know that in this simple act they would find their V.O.I.C.E.

The plan was going smoothly when the friends set out to see the man that could cure their friend. Because he could not walk the friends placed him on a mat and decided that four of them would carry him. We don’t know how many members of the group went on that fateful day. Perhaps there were eight of them and they took turns carrying the mat. Maybe there were just six men shifting regularly so that two men could always lead the way and rest as they made their journey. As we have said, history does not record much about them on that day.

The friends make their way to the place where the man was rumored to be. When they arrive they learn that they are too late. A huge crowd has gathered blocking their way. There is no way that they will ever get their friend close enough to the man to tell him of his troubles. Everyone in the crowd has a need and a desire to see this man. Everyone viewed their need as greater than his. To the crowd, this man had no greater right to see the man than they did. And remember that conventional wisdom of the day suggested that perhaps he had less need as his condition suggested that he had done wrong somewhere in his past. He did not deserve to be cured. And so, the men and their friend found themselves on the edge of the crowd defeated and unable to do what they set out to do.

If you read the story it seems to me that it was at this precise moment that the men found their V.O.I.C.E. We don’t know whether it was just one of the members of the group, or whether the seeds of an idea germinated among the group. The history does not tell us that they held a meeting or even took a vote. We don’t see the emergence of a heroic leader that inspires the men with a speech. We don’t really know how it happened. What we do know if we read the story is that the men found their V.O.I.C.E.

At the start of this journey we know that these men had compassion for their friend. They had a shared set of Values. Perhaps their value was compassion for their fellow man, or maybe their Value was teamwork. We may never know, but we know from their story that these men were motivated by their Values. These men also had a clear and compelling Objective. The Objective was to get their friend to the man that could cure him. It is unlikely that this was a written Objective, but the Objective was communicated clearly among the group and understood by everyone. These men had Integrity. That was clear in a number of ways. First, when the men arrived and encountered the obstacle of the crowd, the story tells us they did not just give up and head for home. We also know that the men were committed to doing what they said they would do which was to take their friend to be cured. They understood Choices. At the moment when it seemed to these men that they would not complete their objective, they made a Choice. Perhaps they understood the consequences of their Choice. But it is clear that they did not blame the crowd. They made a Choice to take action. Finally, these men displayed their E-cubed, Emotional Energy and Edge. After a long trip carrying their crippled friend, we can assume that the men were tired. It would have been much easier to accept defeat. After all, they had done all that they could do. They had the best of intentions, but it just did not work out as they planned. That is not what happened with our heroes. They had Emotional Energy and Edge. They made a bold choice. They decided that they would break with conventional wisdom and practice. They were going to accomplish their objective, and they were going to see to it that their friend made it to the man that could cure him. Values, clear Objectives, Integrity, Choices, Emotional Energy and Edge. Our heroes in that instant found their V.O.I.C.E.

The story of our heroes is recounted in the book of Mark in the second chapter beginning at the third verse. It is so short that I will tell it here:

Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven”. Later in the story, after confronting the critics in the crowd, Jesus said further to the paralyzed man “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all.

The story ends here. We never again here from the paralyzed man, and there is no celebration for his friends. Because they found their V.O.I.C.E. the world was changed. A man that was paralyzed walked again. Our heroes did not accept convention. They demonstrated Emotional Energy and Edge when they cut a whole in the roof of a building to accomplish their Objective. They were guided by their Values, and Integrity caused them to do what they said they would do.

Why must we find our V.O.I.C.E.? We must do so because each of us has within us the capacity to change our world. Maybe finding your V.O.I.C.E. will cause a great piece of literature to be created that will expand the imagination or lift spirits. Perhaps your V.O.I.C.E. is expressed in poetry. For some, their V.O.I.C.E. will only be clear within the walls of their home as they parent a child who may some day go on to greatness. Maybe your V.O.I.C.E. is to mentor those less fortunate or to teach. Or just perhaps, yours will be the V.O.I.C.E. of a leader. You may lead just one person, a group of six, hundreds, or thousands of people. Having leaders that find their V.O.I.C.E. can have the greatest impact on our world. Whatever your reason, you owe it to yourself and those you lead to find your V.O.I.C.E.