What Difference Will You Make Today?

“Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation

.”

Robert Kennedy

Here’s a “small portion of events” that represents the fulfillment of Kennedy’s aphorism:

I was putting gas in my car the other day and I noticed a man standing near the entrance to the gas station store. He was unshaven, his clothes were dirty and he was extremely thin. I thought he was going to ask me for money. He didn’t.

At that moment, an older couple approached me and somewhat frantically asked if I was familiar with the neighborhood. They were lost and asked for directions to their destination which I patiently gave them. But the more I explained, the more confused they got, asking me over and over to repeat the directions.

Suddenly, I heard a voice behind me speaking to the couple. It was the man I had seen by the entrance to the gas station store. He was correcting something about my directions. I realized that he was right and I had been wrong.

I left the couple in the very capable hands of this man. As I drove away, I waved to this man who waved back and smiled.

Cynics among us may assume that this man was simply looking for a handout but I don’t think so. He had truly made a difference for that couple and, I maintain, that was the “handout” he had been seeking. If he also got some money for making a difference, so much the better.

In fact, the “handout” we are all seeking is to know that our lives matter and that we made a difference. The reason any of us get paid for the work we do is because we made a difference.

The question I encourage you to wake up asking yourself every morning (to replace any negative thoughts that may be there as you awake) is, “What difference can I make today and who can I make it for?” The difference we will make will always be a “bending of history” no matter how large or how small the difference.

If we will just search for opportunities to make a difference for others, we will find them.