Everlasting Effects

Have you ever wondered what kind of effect you may have had on someone? Like that time in high school when you stood next to your friend and didn't say a word while they made fun of someone. Or that time when you saw someone crying and maybe you stopped to ask if they were ok...or maybe you didn't. High School can be a place of fun, friends, and great memories for many. For others it can be a nightmare, a place with dark shadows, a lonely building full of demons.

You may never know the effect you have had on an individuals life. Maybe you were the reason they cried every day in their room when they got home or possibly you were the reason they made it through the day. I personally never thought about how my actions may have affected someones day or even life until I found face book. In the past five years I have had two people contact me and thank me for treating them with kindness and making them feel like they were someone when nobody else did. I can't begin to tell you the pain I feel when I think of how these people may have suffered or what exactly they went though but I am so thankful that my parents always encouraged me to be the social butterfly I was and still am. I never thought I was doing anyone a favor by pretending to be nice or anything like that. I was always just that way with everyone. I was never part of a click even though I was part of many teams. I was never friends with the same people all through school, I kept old ones and made new ones as I grew up. I wasn't embarrassed to talk in public with  kid who was "not cool" or take them with me every day to lunch...Sure I could have had the captain for the football team in my car but I choose the captain of the chess team. I choose to be around people with good sense, good energy, and who treated me with me kindness. I could have cared less if it made people stare or gossip...so?

Anyway, I just feel very humbled inside that because I choose to be me, I had a positive effect on some people who needed it. It means a lot to me that after 10 years they were brave enough to tell me this.

And while I am humbled to know that I played a part in making some people have good memories or an easier time in school, it makes me wonder if I could have made someones day or time at school a nightmare.

Actions have ever lasting effects. I think Newton said it best...