The Power of a Selfie

Well…I bet that title grabbed your attention! Selfies – they seem to evoke strong opinions, don't they? People either love them or can’t stand them. For some, it’s like, "Oh no, here comes that guy again with the selfie!" But for others, it’s a rallying call, "Heck yeah, let's get a selfie!"

So, what's all the fuss about? Why do people take them? And more importantly, why do I take them?

For me, it's simple. I love selfies because they capture a moment in time that I want to remember. There’s no better way to freeze a memory than with a selfie. It's like hitting the "pause" button on life for just a second and being able to revisit that exact moment down the road – a year, five years, or even 20 years from now. A selfie allows you time to reflect and say, “I remember that day, and wow, it was a great one!”

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but a selfie? Well, that’s worth at least 100,000!

Now, I want to take this a step further. Many of you have heard me talk about my father and how much he means to me. I often ask, “If your life were a company, who would sit on your Board of Directors?” For me, my dad would always be at the head of the table. But someone else I’d put there is my mother.

Ironically, both of my parents have battled Parkinson’s disease. My dad lived with it for 29 years, and my mom, now 82, was diagnosed much later in life. The truth is, my mom doesn’t have much time left on this earth, and soon, she’ll join my dad in heaven. You might wonder what this has to do with selfies.

Well, one of my favorite things to do when I visit my mom at Friendship Village is to show her the selfies I’ve taken. Those snapshots – with family, friends, colleagues, and students – bring joy to her. They may be simple, silly, and sometimes selfish, but they give her a way to connect with moments and people she can no longer be part of in the same way she once was.

So, the next time you see me? Let’s take a selfie! Not just to capture that moment for ourselves, but maybe, just maybe, it’ll bring a smile to someone else’s face someday.