The Connection Magazine The Connection Magazine Spring 2017 | Page 16

About TED:
A Tale Of Empowerment
Teachings from David Emerald,
Author of The Power Of TED
“In his own example of despair,
Emerald was able to realize
that he had been living his life
through the eyes of a victim,
wondering why everything bad
had happened to him.“
SPRING 2017
2017
SPRING
IT WAS time to make the call this writer
had been dreading. Not because my
friend wasn’t knowledgeable about the
topic at hand—the preferred destination
of a daughter’s college trip abroad—
but because she was so good at playing
the victim. And after so many years of
playing the rescuer, I knew the friendship
had become difficult to sustain. Let’s call
my friend Vicki, as in Vicki-the-Victim.
“Hi Vicki,” I started. “How are things
going?” I asked innocently enough. “Just
trying to survive,” she responded wearily.
It was the same old story about the same
old difficulties. Vicki had immigrated to
the United States in her early twenties,
leaving behind the country soon to be
the destination of my daughter’s trip.
For years—decades really—Vicki had
claimed to be unable to get a job because
of her foreign accent and inability to
speak English fluently, and as a result,
was living in near poverty and struggling.
Vicki began her tale of woe once again,
and I listened patiently and volunteered
my well-worn advice—take an English
class, move to a less expensive home,
accept a position she thought was
beneath her—before finally asking Vicki
which city she’d recommend for my
daughter’s stay in her home country.
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