Make tomorrow better for others

“The life I touch for good or ill will touch another life, and in turn another, until who knows where the trembling stops or in what far place my touch will be felt.”

---Frederick Buechner

            What if other’s tomorrow were entirely up to you? I mean, what if your influence, your very presence, determined what type of day each person you came into contact had? How would today have been? Would folks be glad they were with you or would they have just wished you stayed home today?

            Tomorrow each of us will come into contact with numerous people—some we know and others we have yet to befriend. Each of us possesses the potential to brighten their day, put a smile on their respective faces, and send them off prepared to do the same for others.

            Now, many of these folks will most likely have a perfectly fine day no matter what we do, or leave undone. However, there are countless others who need us: folks who need us to smile at them because it has been a long time since their heart has been warmed by a smile; folks who need us to compliment them because it has been far too long since someone made them feel special; folks who have been pushed to the margins of society and are just waiting for someone to bring them back in with an act of kindness that restores their dignity.

            What we do, or leave undone, will have ramifications tomorrow. Imagine how much better tomorrow will be if each of us accepts the responsibility to be kind to all those we meet tomorrow—it would be a great day. Tomorrow we can make a difference, and none of us knows where that difference will end or how important it will be. 

“Treat a man as he appears to be, and you make him worse. But treat a man as if he were what he potentially could be, and you make him what he should be.”
―Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

            I love this quote. However, I need to remind myself of it on a daily basis. Far too often I allow what I see—or have seen—to influence how I treat others. A past slight, perceived or actual, possesses the potential to determine how we view, and subsequently treat, others. A negative first impression may doom an individual to a lifetime of indifference or lowered expectations. We must guard against this tendency.

            John Maxwell suggests there are three variables that assist folks in changing: they learn enough; they hurt enough; or they are allowed to change. We can play a role in all three instances, but the third one is where my focus is today. When we hold a view of someone, especially a negative view, we are creating an environment that serves to inhibit or prevent any change on their part. Scroll back up to the top of the page and take a look at the quote again.

            We all possess incredible potential, but each of us requires a certain set of circumstances to reach that potential. How we view, and treat, others either lifts them up or keeps them shackled to the ground. Today I encourage you to think about a person in your life who could benefit from you changing your view of them. Do something—anything—that edifies them and allows them to become that which they were created to be. Identify the student or staff member in your life that could benefit from a new, improved view and write them a letter, call them, or meet with them and help them see the good within themselves they are unable to see without your assistance. Do it today; tomorrow is not promised to us.