Tell Me: Season 3 Episode 2: First Responder John Welling Speaks of Family, Service, Sacrifice and Resilience

HAPPY NEW YEAR my friends!

This season we take on the subject of resilience and how important building resiliency is in terms of our survival regarding our mental, physical and spiritual well being, no matter what stage of life we find ourselves.

I have wanted to interview my good friend John Welling since the podcast’s inception.   His roles over the years as patriarch, Fire Chief/first responder, coach, sports official, youth mentor, volunteer with the Special  Olympics and professional team leader have led to the birth of many power of one and power of one another moments.

In this episode, John candidly talks about what resiliency looks like in his own journey, the mistakes he's made, what he's learned and the practices he puts in place to make a difference in the lives of others on a daily basis.

John was blessed to have two loving parents who showed him the way and they instilled in him the core values of service and sacrifice.  His father John had compassion and love for the mentally challenged and started a summer camp for children, which his family all became a part of.  His mother, Anne, is an eloquent writer and communicator and below is an excerpt from a letter she wrote to the Operations Manager of the Penn Transplant Center after his father was blessed to be the lucky recipient of an organ donor.

Life isn't about keeping score. It's not about how many friends you have. Not about if you have plans this weekend or if you're alone. It isn't about who you are dating, who you used to date, how many people you've dated, or if you haven't been with anyone at all. It isn't about who you have kissed.  It's not about sex. It isn't about who your family is or how much money they have.  Or what kind of car you drive. Or where you are sent to school. It's not about how beautiful or ugly you are. Or what clothes you wear, what shoes you have on, or what kind of music you listen to. It's not about if your hair is blonde, red, black, or brown. Or if your skin is too light or too dark. Not about what grades you get, how smart you are, how smart everybody else thinks you are, or how smart standardized tests say you are. It's not about what clubs you're in or how
good you are at "your" sport. It's not about representing your whole being on a piece of paper and seeing who will "accept the written you."

LIFE JUST ISNT.

But, life is about who you love and who you hurt. It's about who you make happy or unhappy purposefully.  It's about keeping or betraying trust. It's about friendship, used as a sanctity or a weapon. It's about what you say and mean, maybe hurtful, maybe heartening. About starting rumors and contributing to petty gossip. It's about what judgments you pass and why. And who your judgments are spread to. It's about who you've ignored with full control and intention. It's about jealousy, fear, ignorance, and revenge. It's about carrying inner hate and love, letting it grow, and spreading it. But most of all, it's about using your life to touch other people's hearts in such a way that could have never occurred alone. Only you choose the way those hearts are affected, and those choices are what life's all about."

For more information about John you can reach out to him via e-mail at: station27chief@comcast .net.

For more information about Camp Jaycee and the Special Olympics and how you can get involved, please follow the links below.

https://www.campjaycee.org
https://www.specialolympics.o