Influence

You never know who is watching you. OK, that sounds more creepy than I intended.  What I mean to say is that our influence spreads for good or for bad. And, just like the wind, we have no control over it.

There have been many people in my life that have influenced me. One, in particular comes to mind was my 9th grade Physical Science teacher.  He doesn’t stand out to me three decades later because of his unique and exciting ways of explaining Newton’s Laws or the experiments we did to try and explain kinetic energy.

The thing I remember most about him was that he genuinely cared about me as a person.  He wanted to see me excel not only in his class, but in life.  He was more concerned about developing character in me than my getting an A in his class.

 

Am I being that kind of influence to those around me? Funny thing about influence is you can’t make a plan, set aside a time and influence a loved one.  It happens amid the day to day stuff we all do.  Did I smile and ask the cashier how her day was or was I huffy and rushed? Was my tone harsh when my child spilled the bowl of cereal for the third time this week or did I show grace?

Ralph Waldo Emerson summarizes it this way, “Your actions speak so loudly, I can not hear what you are saying.”