Ripple Effect
Have you ever dropped a stone in a pond and seen how waves are sent out all around where it hit. One stone can create many waves that can carry far beyond the initial impact. On Tuesday night, April 27, I attended an event that left me in awe of the difference one single life can have. After the Santa Fe South soccer games there was a candlelight vigil held to honor the memory of Mike Cartmill. Mr. Cartmill was the Head Football and Baseball coach, as well as a teacher at SFS High School. He had spent the last six years as a teacher at SFS and had built the football program from the ground up. As the game ended, people began to flood on to the field, surrounding it entirely. After a short time the lights were turned out and each person lit a candle. It was an unbelievable sight! Four or five young men recounted the investment that Coach Cartmill had made in their life and how it had changed them.
Can one life make a difference? I think it is easy for us to become very self-focused and believe that our lives do not make a difference. I have heard many people make the excuse that their negative actions do not have an impact on anyone but themselves. Such a statement demonstrates that a person is out of touch with reality. None of us live in a bubble. We do not live isolated lives unless we live alone, on a mountain or in a whole, cut off from society. Otherwise, if we interact at all with others, we have an impact on them in one way or another. The more often the interaction, the more likely the impact. It is easy for us to lose sight of how, if invested right, can have a positive impact on countless people. As I listened to those young men I realized that one person can make a difference. One man gave of himself. He made sacrifices of himself to give to others. What he did was not elaborate or expensive or something that required great skill. He simply took time, time he could have used in another way, and used it to help someone else.
What will be the ripple effect of my life? When my time on earth is over, will there be anyone to stand up and tell of how I made a difference in their life? Will there be anyone to say that I gave of myself, that I sacrificed my time, to benefit them? Will there anyone that will testify that they are a better person because they knew me? I must admit that I never met Coach Cartmill. I never spoke with him or even spent time around him. However, his life impact my life through his investment in others. His life is a challenge to me. His life is an example of how I want to live the remainder of my life. I want my life to make a difference.
Can one life make a difference? Yes it can!
The question is, "What will we do with the time we are given?"
Can one life make a difference? I think it is easy for us to become very self-focused and believe that our lives do not make a difference. I have heard many people make the excuse that their negative actions do not have an impact on anyone but themselves. Such a statement demonstrates that a person is out of touch with reality. None of us live in a bubble. We do not live isolated lives unless we live alone, on a mountain or in a whole, cut off from society. Otherwise, if we interact at all with others, we have an impact on them in one way or another. The more often the interaction, the more likely the impact. It is easy for us to lose sight of how, if invested right, can have a positive impact on countless people. As I listened to those young men I realized that one person can make a difference. One man gave of himself. He made sacrifices of himself to give to others. What he did was not elaborate or expensive or something that required great skill. He simply took time, time he could have used in another way, and used it to help someone else.
What will be the ripple effect of my life? When my time on earth is over, will there be anyone to stand up and tell of how I made a difference in their life? Will there be anyone to say that I gave of myself, that I sacrificed my time, to benefit them? Will there anyone that will testify that they are a better person because they knew me? I must admit that I never met Coach Cartmill. I never spoke with him or even spent time around him. However, his life impact my life through his investment in others. His life is a challenge to me. His life is an example of how I want to live the remainder of my life. I want my life to make a difference.
Can one life make a difference? Yes it can!
The question is, "What will we do with the time we are given?"
Comments
Post a Comment