Making an Impact

Making an Impact

(Originally entitled “Impacting People” when it appeared in Babble On, for the Sunstar Davao, October 6, 2006)

There is no end to the impact a person’s actions or words can have on another. Sometimes just one person can have an impact on the world.

Look at the effect the Iranian Prime Minister had when he said that Israel should be wiped off the face of the earth. Pope Benedict’s words on jihad caused angry Islamic followers to take to the streets. It took a Bush to invade the Middle East, and an Arroyo to pull out our troops from the same Middle East in order to save the life of an OFW. It took a Lincoln to end slavery, while it took only one man’s madness to end the life of Lincoln with a shot to the head.

It took one teacher’s belief in her students to guide them into the right path. One man’s prejudiced vision caused the massacre of millions of Jews, while another man’s flying skills was nearly all that was needed to crash a plane into the twin towers.

What a teacher or a nation’s leader or a man on the street does today can impact not just your life, but the lives of those around you. A smile here, an encouraging word there, believing in another, these can all make a difference in another person’s life.

One neophyte teacher in California had a positive impact on her class of students, This class was famous for driving away veteran teachers and for being a problem class. They were wild, considered uncontrollable and had been written off by administrators as a lost cause. But this teacher did not let that affect her. She chose to influence these students for the better. She chose to make a positive impact. On the first day of class she made an effort to know the name of every student and succeeded, earning their respect, because no one had even bothered to learn their names before! Or at least, not instantly on the first day. The teacher told them that: “I know your names because you are important people to me. When I look at you, I see you. I like you. And I care about you. That why I’m here.”

This teacher was convinced that believing the best in people would bring out the best in them. She had such a positive impact on her students that they began to believe in themselves as well, and every single one from that first class graduated from high school, no easy feat considering they had all been slated for failure. And this happened because of the impact of one person. One teacher. You probably know and have heard about her story before. This was the story of LouAnne Johnson, who was the basis for the movie “Dangerous Minds.”

Once during the age before cellphones, I received a phone call from a woman I didn’t know. She was distraught and kept chattering away at me. My first instinct was to tell her to stop bothering me and to hang up the phone, but there was something odd in her voice that made me stay on the line. After about a half hour of talking, she told me that she was contemplating suicide and that she had called my number at random looking for someone to talk to. She was thankful I took the time to talk to her, told me that the people in the world may not be so bad after all. I managed to wrangle a promise from her not to even contemplate suicide and to seek professional help. I don’t dare imagine what would have happened had I hung up the phone instantly.

An Austrian once had an interesting dating experience with a Jewish girl he liked. He made an effort to be presentable to her, but all she did was heap scorn and ridicule upon him. He was so scarred from the experience that he developed a deep-rooted hatred of all Jews. This Austrian later went on to become the leader of Germany. His name was Hitler and he sent millions of Jews to their deaths. Had that Jewish girl from his lovelife been kinder to him, it is entirely possible that millions of Jews would not have perished.

This brings to mind another story. A devout Muslim from Saudi Arabia had just arrived from the Middle East to study in America. He was said to be a nice quiet boy. As per his culture, he left his shoes outside his dorm room. A few American students saw those shoes and roughhoused with them, throwing those shoes around and generally making a fool out of the Muslim student. This student would later on learn to fly a plane and would be one of the pilots to crash a plane into the twin towers in New York. A tragedy. One which could have been avoided. If those American students had befriended rather than humiliated the Muslim student, things may have turned out differently.

The things you do in your everyday life can impact, either negatively or positively, the lives of another. We may not all be Bushes or Arroyo’s or world leaders whose every action affects almost literally everyone. But we are people who impact those around us. Sometimes the smallest thing can make an impact. It really is up to us whether we make it a positive or negative one, whether we help cause the next holocaust or the next twin tower crash, or we help people in our own way.