What’s left when we are gone? Most of us will linger
for a time in the memory of family and friends, in old photos, and in things we have made. The greatest of us are remembered for centuries - as respected and influential now as when alive.
Great souls make indelible marks on history.
Most of us will not make indelible marks on history.
Yet, though our marks may be small, that doesn’t mean our small marks aren’t important.
Sometimes something we’ve said or done has a large effect on someone else.
“Hey, remember me”? “No, don’t believe we’ve met”.
“We worked together at XYZ Inc. I was at the big meeting where you told Blithers his plan wouldn’t work. Man, Blithers was steaming. We all thought he was going to fire you on the spot”.
“Yes, I remember that meeting. I explained, step-by-step why that plan would fail”. Yeah, and you convinced Blithers”.
“The way you pulled it off turned my head around.
You spoke like a doctor giving a diagnosis, calm, deliberate, impersonally laying out the facts. Before that day I was sure
the best way to get ahead was to agree with anything the boss said. You showed me the best way to get ahead was to speak-up for what was best for the company.
“You changed my life”.
A nearly forgotten meeting that had a life-changing effect on someone unremembered.
It happens more often than we know. Every word and act makes ripples that touch shores beyond our intention. Usually the effect is trivial. Sometimes much more. We rarely find out which is which.
I’ve written in my essay, Some Remain, about people
who unknowingly changed me. I’ve also met people who say
I changed their life because of some word, or some act I barely remember. I’m sure the same happens to us all. Life-changing memories are usually about learning to do better. Nearly as often they’re learning about what should never be done.
Both are helpful.
Sir Isaac Newton (1675) famously said, “If I have seen further than others it is by standing on the shoulders of giants”. Bernard of Chartres said nearly the same in the 12th century.
It may also have been said centuries even earlier.
Truth is a time-traveler. We are all influenced by truths great and small. We influence others in turn. We all follow footprints in the dust. We all leave footprints in the dust.
Every step leaves a mark.