Faces

I am not unique. Neither are you.

I know everyone out there wants to think they're special, that they're "chosen" for some great task, but the reality is many of us will live our lives simply and slowly, touching those around us in some small way, and fading away as time traipses on and memories drift past in the wind.

And yet, to touch one life is to change the course of history.

You, I, we may never be remembered as those in the history books are remembered, but their stories are often flawed anyway. We may never see our portrait hanging from a great hall, or our names blazoned on a trophy, or our picture in a magazine, but maybe, someday, somehow, someone else will think of you and tell their children "That person changed me. Without them, I wouldn't be who I am today."

Sometimes, that is a good thing. Sometimes, you can change a life for the better. But you could also be an unwitting catalyst for great evil as well. This is not something special, a task just for you--it is what hangs in the balance for every soul.

We all can point to someone and say "There. They impacted me." Sometimes, it hurts to think of them, how they hurt you, how they're gone, how you miss them. Sometimes, the person is one that you have never met, but is someone who influenced you through their words, actions, or art.

I tell the children I work with their actions never impact just themselves. They don't believe me. In their minds (as in the minds of all children), they are the main character in a long and fascinating drama that carries on throughout their life and ends dramatically at their death. But the reality is, life has no ending, and certainly no beginning. It carries on, with or without you around to see it.

I am not unique. Neither are you.

And that is a very, very good thing.