Making A Difference
A lot of people talk about how they want to change the world and accomplish "great things" with their lives. I don't have such high aspirations. I just want to make the little bit of the world I live in a better place. If I can make one person's day better, each day of my life, think how much good my life will bring about.
Most days are little things; looking someone in the eyes and giving them a genuine smile, listening when they tell me stories from their childhood, making a really killer mojito, making someone laugh.
But every now and then, I get to make a big difference. A while back, I had a lady sitting at a table in my restaurant. It was late in the afternoon and she was my only customer and we got to talking. I mentioned where Dave is now and she went off on a tirade about how evil Muslims are.
I stopped her and said no, terrorist and people who use the Muslim religion as an excuse to do horrible things are terrible; but the Muslim religion is a beautiful and peaceful faith. She was aghast that I would say that; how about the World Trade Centers, how about the USS Cole? To her, these were prime examples of why she should hate all Muslims.
I asked her, what about zealots that blow up abortion clinics and kill doctors who perform abortions, what about those people in Kansas that go to the funerals of military people who were killed in Iraq holding the most hurtful signs? Do those people really represent main stream Christianity?
She agreed that they did not.
Then why, as asked her, would you think that these zealots spreading hate and violence would represent the teachings of the second largest religion in the world? It doesn't.
That woman left my restaurant with new thoughts and an open mind; and I felt very good about my place here in this universe.
Some days, I make the world a better place in small ways, but every now and then, I get to make a bigger difference, and I love that.
How did you make the world a better place today?
posted by Wendylicious @ 7:30 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Wonderful story, Wendy. Love it that you reached out to that woman...if we had more people in the world willing to do just that, we would have lots less wars and terror in our world. Thanks for sharing.
Good one, Wendy and I agree. I too am trying to make a small difference. I recenlty "adopted" a GI serving in Iraq. Another scrapper friend is married to a man who has served his country well for many years and is retiring next year. They decided he should spend his last year in service in Iraq and the first thing he did when he got there was to let his wife know that there were young men/women who get little mail and no packages. So many of her scrapper friends like myself have adopted a GI. I told her sure immediately, then added, I've always wanted more kids.
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