Can I Quote You On That?

I got an email from Oprah today. You know. Cause we got it like that, Oprah and me. Anyway, she was asking her friends (like me) to share their favorite quotes. And while some of my favorites come from my mother, "After me, you come first." And some come from N, (back then known as the Prophet N) who famously said, "Why grieve for the future when you can dwell on your past?" I also have a favorite quote from a book...

"Every life is different because you passed this way and touched history." ~The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver

Something about that quote really spoke to me so many years ago when I read it, and continues to speak to me today.

There is something profound to me about the idea that a seemingly small decision that one makes can have enormous effects, both good and bad, on others lives. We all think about that when it comes to something like drinking and driving; getting in that car is a deceptively small decision that can have such profound consequences. But what about when good stuff happens? (My mind spins trying to come up with examples.) Or what about all the ways that we touch others' lives without even knowing it? The things we do without even thinking about them that have positive impacts on the lives of others? How crazy is it to think that we have all touched history?

It just makes me feel good to know that no matter how small my life feels sometimes, every life is different because I passed this way and touched history.