Making a Difference

A few days ago, I buried a friend of mine. She wasn’t a long-time friend…in fact, I hardly knew her at all. She bounced off the windshield of the truck in front of me, and in a blur of feathers and wings she fell under my car as I passed over her. I hate it when that happens…even more so when it’s me that’s the cause of such suffering…but I had places to go and people to meet, so I winced a bit and brushed it off as simply another contribution to the food chain. But as I drove along another mile or two, it bothered me enough that I knew it would still be bothering me later if I didn’t do something about it. So, I whipped a U-turn at the top of the next hill and went back to find her still in the highway and not yet road-kill.

I got out of the car and took a look at her. She was still blinking her little eyes…still showing some sign of life…so I picked her up and held her for a bit, hoping that perhaps she was just knocked silly but would recover and fly away as they sometimes do. She laid there in my hand calmly looking back up at me for a minute or so, then suddenly flapped her wings furiously and fell to the ground. When I picked her up, her eyes were closed and she was gone.

I was on my way back from a long road trip, and that incident…harmless and insignificant as it may seem, had a lasting impact on me. It was just a bird…one of millions out there doing their thing, so why should this one have any impact on me? It was a bit of feather and wing clinging to life in a palm of human flesh and bone, clinging to life on another level, but nonetheless significant in the grand scheme of things.

As I traveled along in the days afterward, I thought about the human friends and family members I’ve lost over the years, and wondered what had been meaningful about them…what had they accomplished in their lives? We’ve just “lost” Michael Jackson, once revered then scorned and vilified, and now loved and revered again, and along with him another icon of my generation, Farrah Fawcett, born the same year as me, and someone I had a huge crush on for most of my adult life.

What did they leave behind of lasting value besides memories and estates for others to squabble over? What did they do to make life better for others? Such thoughts caused me to go deep into myself and wonder what have I done to make life better for anyone else? What legacy will I leave behind that will matter to others?

What about you? Who are you? What are you doing with your life that really makes any difference to others? Are you just getting by, or are you pursuing something in your life that has a positive impact on others? Are you just making your way from cradle to grave as safely as possible, or are you clearing a path for others behind you?

It doesn’t take a Michael Jackson or a Farrah Fawcett to make a real difference in the world. As Margaret Meade wrote so powerfully, it only takes a small group of (passionate) people committed to making a difference to change the world for the better. So, whether you impact millions, like Michael or Farrah, or one at a time, do it with all the passion and caring you can muster. If enough of us impact just a few others in our lives, we can and we will see miracles and wonders in our lifetimes yet. It doesn’t take an icon…and in fact it rarely works that way at all. It only takes a few of us, dedicated to leaving behind something for others to be inspired by, and a clearer path for them to find their own way. Can you do that much? If you can, you will be just as important––if not more so––than any “icon” ever has been.

Don Kirchner
www.ReturnToHonor.org