There are reasons why we do this work. My senior-year high school English teacher, in whose class I was a disappointment, told me not to start sentences with “There are.” I have been doing battle with that rule ever since, always mindful of my teacher.
There are reasons why you and I do this work. Situations confront us where the old rules don't apply. Seeing the limits of conventional thinking, our energy rises as we imagine another way. A vision takes hold of us, and we take a chance on possibility. Whether we articulate it or not, we are in the midst of a story. The story inspires us.
There are reasons why you and I continue this work, which is never easy. Amid the obstacles that the mission-driven inevitably run into, we catch glimpses of the difference our work makes, and we are surprised by the discovery that others move with us through no effort of our own. Whether we give voice to it or not, a story carries us. The story sustains us.
