The Ripple Effect
Early this morning the news started flowing early, and from a simple tweet, I read that the Reverend Billy Graham had passed away. Now, I never met him face to face, nor have I ever attended one of his evangelistic services, but I have always respected who he was, what he did, and the integrity that surrounded him.
Of all the comments made about him throughout the day, this one thought has stuck with me from early this morning, and it was wrapped up in the thought of the ripples of his influence. Maybe he knew how he impacted others, but it has been said by various Presidents that when he prayed for them, he wasn’t praying for the President of the United States, rather, he was praying for the man. The person. Imagine how each President felt to know that someone was praying for them personally and not there to ask for something, or to complain about something, or demanding some change.
This brings me to my thought. Behind each person’s life stands more people than you can shake a stick at! That person you met did not get to where they are without a funnel of people who poured themselves into the individual every day of their lives. There are literally thousands of people you will never meet that had a ripple effect on that person standing in front of you. Those thousands may not they know they helped this particular person, but their effects are felt far into the future through generations of time.
For some reason I thought about all those who have helped me get to where I am today.
Call them Shadow People. Why? I cannot name them all because many of them are nameless. They are shadows of my past.
The rippling waves of teachers that taught teachers that taught me, the good ones, and the ones not so good, and the schools, families, and friends that impacted each of them. Like concentric circles, they span across the ages to get to today, and beyond, impacting hundreds and thousands of individuals like me. Crisscrossing the plane of time and distance. It’s like a funnel of generational teachers, writers, researchers, historical figures, university boards, builders, manufacturers, resource gatherers, miners, adventurers, explorers…mothers and fathers, siblings, aunts, uncles and grandparents… and everyday people.
They have all impacted who I have become.
I am not a self-made person. I am a part and parcel of all the past that brings me to the moment of taking the next step to build even further ripples. The mistakes I make? Well, I’m responsible for them even if the influences of my past led me down the road of making wrong choices. The victories I have? Well, let’s past the baton of thanks to all those who poured themselves into the funnel so that I can celebrate along the way!
There is no way to ignore this. You are not who you are by your own efforts. Like your DNA, there is a genetic connection to your past that makes you a product that can continue the effort started thousands of years ago.
Remember the scene of Dorothy waking up from the tornado experience. Whether it was real, or a dream, she realized that the people who surrounded her everyday humdrum existence were the very people she met, and needed, in the land of Oz. She was blind to her present surroundings and could not see how they impacted her daily life. But let a disaster show up and suddenly she realizes she’s not alone in her life. She is surrounded by those she needs, and those that need her!
You never know your potential by the life you live day in, day out. But every life has the potential to “become” something you may not even realize. Until your last breath, you keep striving to reach the top.
“Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain,
but all the happiness and growth occurs while you’re climbing it.” ~Andy Rooney
Rest assured, there are generations of people behind your history that knew somewhere, someday, someone in their future will have the potential of being a famous or important person, doing famous or important things. Just like we should know, that in our future there are people who will be impacted by the quality of life we lead now, the mistakes we make, the trials we go through, and our victories.
Are you on both sides of that equation?
You are impacted by those in your past to produce and to be, and are you impacting the next generational ripple to produce the next rising star or important thing? Or, just to simply give a foundation so that life can continue moving right along.
Think about it. You are people behind people, living a great life in the shadows. You may never be the star or the important individual, but you are important…right where you are.
One last thought. President John Adams that wrote a letter to his wife, Abigail, and he is quoted as saying that speaks of these generational ripples I’m speaking of. He understood his role in life and think how it has impacted each subsequent generation.
“The science of government it is my duty to study, more than all other sciences; the arts of legislation and administration and negotiation ought to take the place of, indeed exclude, in a manner, all other arts.
I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.
Our sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain.”