Jodie was a very sick ten-year-old. Born with a defective heart, she was on a wait list for a transplant. Her parents and two sisters lived fearfully but not Jodie or her older brother, Ben. Both Jodie and Ben went through their lives as normal with a sense of calmness that things would work out. Both Jodie and Ben were influenced by each other.
Ben was an athlete and was the second-string quarterback on his high school team as a freshman. When QB1 suffered a concussion in the most important game of the year, Ben took the field. Jodie looked at her parents and said: “We’ve got this.” When Ben looked at his teammates, they could tell he was not rattled. In fact, his calming influence overcame their panic, and for the rest of the game the team played better than ever. Ben became QB1.
When the football season was over, Ben moved on to basketball. It didn’t take long for his calming influence to take over when games were in doubt. All he needed to do was look into the stand for Jodie. Her look was all he needed.
Ben became a local sensation as a two-sport all-state athlete. His junior year the football team had already won the state championship and the basketball team was playing for the state championship as well. But then the call came. They had found a heart for Jodie. Ben returned home immediately.
The team was lost without Ben, but they had stayed within reach. Down by 10 points with just 5 minutes to go, the fans started chanting “Jodie! Jodie! Jodie!” That’s all it took for each member of the team to calm down and play as they knew they could. While Ben wasn’t there, his calming influence was. Just as Ben and Jodie were inspired by the calming influence of each other, the team was inspired by Ben’s calming influence as well as Jodie’s. The victory was dedicated to Ben and Jodie.
All of our great Presidents have been able to calm the citizenry at moments of great challenges. Great leaders of any type of organization must have a calming influence. When we struggle, we often turn to those who have a calming influence.
Think about the traits that make a person a calming influence. A short list would contain these traits:
| Alertness | Endurance | Responsibility |
| Attentiveness | Faith | Self Control |
| Being bold optimistic but quietly cautious | Honor | Sincerity |
| Decisiveness | Patience | |
| Dependability | Persuasiveness | |
| Determination | Resilience |
We don’t develop these in a classroom. They come from life experiences of confronting challenges and learning from them. All of these challenges are necessary to develop a belief in yourself which, through your actions, you share with others.
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“I breathe in calmness. I breathe out stress.” – Anonymous