John Shimer
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And that is exactly what I can not do! I have tried that, and those who deeply love me have been very compassionate listeners. Those who do not love me look at me like I'm a man who has seven heads. Oh, there is always a gracious attempt to listen, but unless you have had a similar experience no real communication occurs. 

Perhaps its easier to understand if you imagine you are the only person in your community who has ever tasted chocolate fondue, and then you try to explain what chocolate fondue tastes like to your friends and neighbors. For months, I struggled with why I even survived. 

The journey to re-engage and become comfortable in my skin again has been long and difficult, and I am certain that I am fully re-engaged in life again, only now in a different way. I have absolutely no fear of death, and a passion to use my remaining time here to use my energy and resources to seek out human angels and tell their stories. 

Sometimes when I write this, I laugh right out loud. I think, how crazy must I be? Who does that? What kind of madman goes around seeking out human angels? But wait, it's much worse. I'm actively trying to engage others in becoming Angel Seekers so a collection of human angel stories can be told, and, hopefully, in a robust way. Are you still curious about me? Or have you just dialed for the men in white coats and sent them to my home? 

 

Of course, I'm still interested.  I'm fascinated by this Angel Seekers project.  What are human angels and what kind of stories do they have to tell? 

I met Maggie Josiah in the fall of 2001, when she was the cleaning lady in the common hallways of a very upscale condominium building where my wife and I lived. Through an odd "hallway-conversation-relationship", we became friends. She kept surprising me with her intelligence, her competency and experience in business (she owned the company that cleaned our hallways), and her art (as she is an accomplished artist). 

Then, she went on a missionary trip to Africa for six weeks, and when she returned, she told me she was going back to Uganda and start a vocational school in the bush (read jungle) for the "lost children" of that nation. When I asked her how she was going to make this happen financially, she replied, "I don't know, but I am certain God will show me the way." 

She had no clue I was a professional fundraising consultant. 

Now, I had met many human angels by then, so I should have recognized that she was one, but I did not. Not until I started coaching her in fundraising did her entire story emerge. 

Maggie had the most horrific start to life that I have known. Her first 30 years on earth were steeped in pain, suffering and torment. 

She was able to escape her tormentors at age 30, ran away to Seattle, changed her identity, became a Christian and spent the next 18 years in therapy with a brilliant psychiatrist. She paid for every one of those sessions out of her own meager wages. 

So, she was 49 years old when I met her. She was poor, had no wealthy friends, had never lived in Africa, had never run a school, let alone found one and create it from scratch. She knew nothing about fundraising, or non-profit organization and management. But she had the faith of a grain of mustard seed. 

Over the next four years, following my guidance, she raised money, went back to Africa, cleared jungle, built buildings and the campus, started teaching and training a core group, and never, never, never gave up. She was like the "Ever-ready bunny" and in 2006, she had actually pulled off a miracle. 

The school is called African Hospitality Institute (AHI), and anyone can go to the website for AHI and take a tour around the campus and learn about the amazing work she does to train teenagers for careers in the hospitality industry. Since tourism is the fastest growing industry in Uganda, these youngsters are all hired before they complete the two-year course at AHI. 

Self-sufficiency is almost unheard of in Uganda. But Maggie's students all graduate as fully self-sufficient. 

After my accident, as part of my own healing, I went to visit AHI, to teach, and to give the keynote speech at graduation in December, 2011. I decided to write a book about this human angel and my involvement with her that, by then, had lasted more than a decade. Writing that book was part of my healing process, as my brain injury from the accident had been serious and I had to rewire my brain to be able to function properly again. 

In that process, I guess my soul got rewired too, because I am now trying to live my life like Maggie to relieve the suffering of others, but in a different way, of course. 

I have really puzzled over this question for a long time. I can, of course, point to the fact that she (Maggie) received professional fundraising guidance and very few ever have that help. Let's face it, it takes money to do these things. If you don't know how to get money to support your work, you are out of business--fast! 

I also believe that her idea of making her school about "self-sufficiency" is a giant advantage. Many NGOs give hand outs in one way or another. Seldom is the primary goal to make others fully self-sufficient. But let's face it, you are never free to be an adult until you are able to support yourself with marketable skills. Maggie saw that, knew that herself, and decided to give it to others. 

But still, this is Africa, and the challenges of succeeding there are enormous. Could there be more going on here than meets the eye? 

Let me answer that by saying that the mathematical probabilities of earth being here and of us being alive on the earth are comparable to a tornado slamming into a junkyard and the outcome of that encounter resulting in a perfectly constructed, perfectly operational Boeing 747 Dreamliner. 

Each of us is free to make what we will of this truth, but I have concluded that there is more than chance at work here. My personal belief is that the mystery of our existence, and the meaning of what is going on here is way beyond the ability of our tiny brains to comprehend. 

Yes, we are able to ask all the right questions. But just because we know the questions, doesn't mean we are capable of figuring out the answers. I came away from my near-death experience with three clear messages that I believe were meant for me personally. I'll share them with you, but you are free to decide if they have any meaning for you. 

The first is "Judge no one! It is a total waste of time and in spite of your penchant for doing this, you will be better served by just paying 100% attention to living your own life as well as you can." 

The second is "Whatever you believe about what is going on in the universe is way short of the whole truth. Marvel in the mystery of it, but also be humbled by it." 

The third is, "Do all you can to relieve the suffering of others." For me, God is now real in ways that go beyond what faith tells me. And I fully understand that one day, when my final death comes, I will have to stand before God and answer this one question, "What did you do to relieve the suffering of others?" 

These answers explain very little. They don't explain why Maggie had to suffer so before she found her freedom and her redemption. They don't explain her great successes now. These answers may give clues, and if that helps your readers, then I am thrilled. But in the end, I am humbled by my own not knowing the answers to your question. 

Questions are always good, even when they don't come with answers attached. And the messages you got from your near-fatal accident resonate for me, too, John. You've worked with people for decades. Nevertheless, you learned a lot about yourself and the Ugandans you met on your trip. You found that they are very like us and yet also very different. Can you expand on that? 

Universally, people are very much alike, although you have to take into account cultural differences. 

Ugandans, just like us, want to have a chance at a full and rich life. They want to be able to take care of themselves and their children. They want to be able to speak and know that they will be heard. They enjoy being part of a community and contributing to community. The like to laugh, to sing, to dance and to feel the warmth of the sun on their skin, and to walk proud as men and women. 

Yes, there are always exceptions, as deviant behavior, mental illness, and ignorance as well as intelligence deficiencies are also everywhere to be found in the world. And suffering is also a universal experience. Disease and death, accidents and tragedy strike everywhere and everyone. 

It is the pursuit of excellence in the face of adversity that distinguishes one person from another. It is also the drive that allows humans to push back the frontiers of knowledge, and human possibility. 

Sometimes, even our best efforts result in failure, but failure is an event and we must never allow it to define us. 

Personally, I am proud to be a human being because I know how great humans are and can be. I focus on that, and not on our failures and the inhumanity of man towards man. Only seeking a better way can we ever experience the glory of the result, which is defined as maximizing the human potential for goodness and decency. 

Look, I am no fool with rose-colored glasses. I teach a course in human motivation and how to use the 10 magic principles of human motivation to get help from others for those projects that are important to them. In that course, I teach about human scorpions who are the most dangerous people on the planet. So, I am fully cognizant of the dangers of the human jungle. 

Ultimately, however, I have learned that we become our best by focusing on what the best looks like or could look like. That's why I want to tell the stories of human angels. They are today's Good Samaritans, and they are Good Samaritans on steroids. So, in the end, I am merely a story-teller looking for great stories to tell as I prepare to leave this life. 

If I succeed in building a robust storytelling platform, and leave a legacy of these stories for the generations that follow, then my heart will rest in peace. My invitation to everyone reading your article is, "Join me. Become a human angel seeker and bring us your stories, and let us help you tell them."