Circles In The Water
When you were a child, or maybe even when you were older, did
you ever toss a pebble into the water and watch the ripples that
emanated from the point where it broke the surface? Or watched
the effect of raindrops falling on a body of water? I have done
these things and have since found myself pondering on this
process, and just how much it can be compared to our lives.
The pebble splashes in the water and affects the surface
surrounding it. A circular ripple spreads outwards and in turn
produces another and another and so on. Have you noticed also,
that just how far this effect travels is dependant on the
magnitude of the impact of that initial pebble? As you read
this, take a moment to consider yourself as being that pebble.
You may make more of an impact on people's lives than you think.
When I say "people's lives", you can include your own. The
impact you make in any territory, whether it be yours or that of
others around you, helps to determine what I would describe here
as: circles of destiny.
You may perhaps have seen a photograph portraying the ability of
flash photography to capture movement and freeze it in time. I
am thinking particularly about a photography that shows
something being dropped into a pool of milk. That initial impact
of the object being dropped causes a "crown" to form as the milk
splashes upward with a ridge having milky "jewels" suspended
above it. As that "ridge" falls back to the surface, the
radiating circles begin to commence their motion. This is the
more dominant radiating force, but in the meantime, the milky
jewels also land back upon the surface with each of those giving
birth to their radiating existence. Such results commence a
dance with multiple circles of destiny.
Logically, before you were conceived in the womb, you had no
effect on anyone or anything upon this earth. From the moment
you were conceived however, your very existence began to cause
an impact not just on other people, but on life and human
development too as interaction, cause, and effect, began. During
such early years, you of course, had little if any control on
such interactions and reactions of those to your existence. You
might have protested with the odd kick or two, but that was
about your lot until you were born.
As the years passed and you grew to the point where you could
readily communicate with those around you, your impact on
society took a more earnest stride, but let us leap forward to
another time...now.
How do you feel about the impact you have on the lives of others
from day to day? Do you recognize that impact? Are you happy
with the impact or effect you have on others? There are those
amongst us who would like to be considered as more significant
and yet others who would rather not be in the limelight and just
quietly live out their lives. The odd thing is, that even by
quietly living out your life behind the scenes as it were, you
still have an impact on those who know or who are aware of you.
There is no getting away from it - we are all at the centre of
our own ripple effect. How much of an effect we have though, is
dependent on two factors: force and resistance.
If I were to drop a "Water Boatman" insect on the surface of a
pool, it would happily scoot around on the surface and not sink
once! If I jumped onto the surface of the same pool, I would do
very little scooting around unless it was on the bottom of the
pool! My impact on the poor Water Boatman would be pretty severe!
At the point of impact, there is always resistance - a result of
surface tension. It gives way dependent on the force exerted.
How much impact you have on the life of another is dependent
entirely on your approach i.e. how much weight you put behind
it, how much insistence; how much determination.
People do not always want help. They do not always want to feel
of the impact you may provide, no matter how good or well
intended it might be. The trouble is that once you have launched
yourself in this way, you cannot retract it. Like it or not an
impact will occur, all that you can do is attempt to lessen it.
So how do you go about lessening the impact you are making on
someone's life? There you are, already launched. How are you
going to restrain the impact?
I recall watching a film a while ago, in which some overeager
person hit a missile launch button. The missile was enroute to
target when it was realized that it was a mistake! What's the
more, the self-destruct button failed to initialise the onboard
sequence. They had two choices left open to them - evacuate or
use another missile to destroy the first that was launched
manually from an aircraft.
So what are your options if your "missile" has been launched and
you want to avoid the impact or at least lessen it? They are as
follows:
1.Send an auto-destruct sequence - can you say or do something
that will stop the "missile" in its tracks and thus prevent any
impact?
2.Manually destroy the "missile" -Can you say or do anything
that will cause any previous situation to be totally dissipated
or deflected out of harms way?
3.Lesson the impact - What can you say or do that although will
not prevent the impact, so that it will cause the least amount
of damage possible?
4.Evacuate the area of impact - Can you move the target so that
although they are aware and damage may be done, lives are
salvaged?
Personal impact is not all bad though. Notice how the ripple of
impact in fluid (and even in some examples of solid impact),
does not change the matter itself but simply the form the matter
takes and the direction it takes. Ripples in liquid, form
circular ridges flowing outward, in line with the strength of
impact. In people's lives, we often cause ripples that do not
change the character themselves necessarily, but do affect their
direction and strength. An important factor to understand here
is that such affects may be for good or bad. We all need to
offload our cares and trials from time to time, and when we do
this, it makes us feel good. We feel so much lighter for doing
so. Our problem or concerns may not be solved, but somehow we
just feel better for doing so. It is good to have friends who
can share our burdens. It is important though to remember that
our friends too will have their own concerns. What's more your
problems will be a concern to them simply because they are your
friends! Oh dear! Does this mean that we should not really be
burdening our friends with issues in our lives? No not all. What
it means is that we all need buffer zones. We, if you like, make
ourselves targets for points of impact for each other.
Impact upon the lives of others exists as natural fact. How we
deal with the impacts when they occur is softened by the simple
task of listening to each other. Being the listening ear -
providing the shoulder can sometimes be all that is required.
You may not be a "professional" in dealing with the problems of
others, but one thing you can be - one thing that really lessens
the impact of less thinking people upon people you know - you
can be their friend - their true friend. Your impact then really
does change people's lives. It changes them for the better. Go
and be a friend, play a part in their "circles of destiny".