Just to put things in perspective....

[lwien]

So yesterday morning, I was going for a bit of walk to the grocery store. It was pretty cold out at around 40 degrees, but the sun was out with huge puffy clouds scattered about. I was standing on the corner with an obvious homeless guy waiting for the light to change. He was totally disheveled, stringy dirty hair, filthy clothes full of holes, about 2 teeth in his mouth, etc etc. We made eye contact and he said, "How ya doin' man?". I thought, ok, here comes the panhandling pitch. I responded back that I was doing well and asked him how he was doing. His response? "I'm homeless" as he looked up to the sky, and then immediately followed up that statement with, "But as long as the sun is out, it's a great day". We said our goodbyes, and I left with a little clearer picture of how good things really are.

 

[RUDE BOY]

Ya Iwien, I know I sometimes forget how great it is Just to be above ground and sucken' air, Right now where i'm at its sunny and 82 degees, I gotta say life is GOOD !

 

[lwien]

Yeah, it also just goes to prove how simple things that are said or are done can have an impact on total strangers that you are not even aware of.

Case in point. I run 20 miles a week at a local high school track late in the afternoon. At 68 years old, there is virtually no one there that is my age that is running faster. As a matter of fact, I'm lapping people that are 3 decades younger than I. Many times, there will be a soccer game going on with fans on both sides of the field watching the game, and I wondered out of all those people, was there just one who may have seen me whose life I may have saved strictly due to the motivation that I may have provided simply because of my presence there, and if that life was saved, how did that saved life impact others.

It's that whole butterfly effect.

That homeless guy prompted this post, and this post "could" have an impact on others who read it, and I have no doubt that that homeless guy had absolutely no idea of the positive contribution that he made to me, and to possibly others.

When you think about the impact that just a casual nod and smile of acknowledgement to a total stranger that you pass on the sidewalk could have, not only to him/her, but to those that they then come in contact with, it boggles the mind.

 

[crawdad]

its like dropping a pebble into a pond, it ripples from the contact just like our vibes on each other. who you are really does make a difference.