I had the weirdest feeling last week.

I was drawing at a wildfire prevention conference, Piedmont Wildfire-Energy Workshop.

For hours I stood at my board while one expert after another laid out how bad the situation is getting.

Single fires that split into 20+ all at once.

Forests drying out and droughts running longer every year.

$20,000 just to outfit a firefighter to bravely run into harm’s way.

Homes built with so much plastic now that firefighters breathe poison on top of smoke when they run inside.

It was, to put it lightly, a lot. The kind of day that could leave you sure that the sky is falling.

And in the middle of it, I felt something I did not expect.

Gratitude.

Not for any of what I was hearing. All of that is truly awful. The gratitude was for getting to be in that room at all, next to a group of people whose whole job is to make things better. To solve the problems.

I’d rather be in the room

I could sit at home and watch the news and let the sky metaphorically fall on me. Plenty of days, I get sucked into those traps.

Or I can strap on my markers holster (yes, you’ve seen it), pull on my knee pads, and go draw it out in a conference room somewhere, beside the people trying to solve it.

Given the choice, I will take the room every time.

My markers do not put out a single fire. But I would rather be in that room being useful than home doing nothing but worrying about it.

This work has me in so many rooms where people are trying to solve big problems. I get to point these same markers at almost anything.

One week it is for the people who keep power lines from sparking wildfires. The next, a Navy team trying to get their shipyards and their engineers on the same page. After that, hundreds of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents seeking common ground on topics like immigration.

No matter how different the rooms look, I keep getting to work with people who are trying to make something better.

Sometimes the mission is enormous, saving lives, keeping people safe.

Sometimes it is smaller and quieter. A company making something genuinely good, the kind of thing that makes an ordinary day a little easier.

Heck, I would even draw for a company just because I love using what they make. I have wanted to work with Southwest Airlines, REI, DICK’s Sporting Goods, and American Express for years, for no reason other than that I am a happy, loyal customer. Good service is its own kind of mission.

I would gladly draw for any of them, because I believe in what they are reaching for.

Have you ever done something like that? Supported a company or organization because of what they aim to be?

In my experience, I’ve learned I do not have to save the world. I just have to believe in the room I am standing in. Same goes for you.

The fires are still enormous. Nothing I drew last week made them any smaller.

But I drove home lighter than I arrived, because I got to spend the day helping instead of watching. That is the kind of work I want to keep being invited into.

Grateful you are here,

Wade