The Janitor

Picture someone legendary.

Who comes to mind? … If you are like most people, you thought of someone like Mother Teresa, Ghandi, Nelson Mandela, Elvis Presley, Michael Jordan.  The list goes on…

A few years ago, a young reporter noticed his little town had completely filled up with people one day – the town was packed with cars and people were everywhere. Every extra bedroom had a relative or two in it, hotel rooms were booked, and restaurants were packed.  He checked the calendar.  No holiday, no festival, no parade.   What was going on?

He began asking around and quickly found out that everyone had come into town to attend a funeral.  So he began asking more questions.

After talking to over a dozen people, he heard a similar story – they were attending the funeral of a man they barely knew and most had only known for a short time.

And yet these people had travelled from all over the world when they heard the news of this mystery man’s passing.  In fact, almost 10,000 people had come to town that day to pay their respects.Who is this Man?

Who was this funeral for?  Was it someone who changed the country?  A movie star or musician?  Someone extremely wealthy? …

No, it turned out that the man had worked in this small town, in the same place, for 45 years.  He worked in a middle school and these were all students who had passed through the school in those 45 years, so most of them had only known him for just three years

He was, in fact, … the janitor at the school.

Somehow, without any direct authority, this man was able to impact thousands of young people and leave such an impact that they left their lives and family for a few days and journey to see him.

It’s almost staggering to think of what he accomplished.  If almost 10,000 people actually attended the funeral, just imagine how many were not able to make the trip!

This man did not have the limitations we might have put upon ourselves – “I am just a janitor.”  He is proof positive that our titles in life mean nothing.  That the amount of money we make or the power we possess does not equal the amount of impact we have.  That we all have the ability to Be Legendary.

This man was fully engaged in life.  He had an amazing amount of wealth – abundance of impact, abundance of influence – and used it to create a legendary world around him.

Who was this man?  Do you know him?

Who is legendary in your life?

Who are YOU legendary for?

 

 

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