Just an ordinary girl…

… the amazing thing about this world is that it CAN be changed.  It’s malleable. And not just by gods or kings or superheroes, but by us – you and me.  Most of us don’t realize how many ripples we make and how very far those ripples travel.

A couple of years ago, I spent the day with my cousin and his family, in the Florida keys.  We had a great breakfast, rented a boat and spent most of the day on the water.  We laughed, played and had a great time being together.  When returning the boat, the person working at the return dock was in a terrible mood and he was very rude to us.  We spent 95% of that day having a wonderful time, and 10 minutes of it dealing with a very mean person.  Those 10 minutes, instantly put us in a bad mood. One of the little girls starting crying and we all just wanted to leave.  Even years later, when we talk about that trip, we also talk about that rude man.  I very much doubt that he ever realized how he ruined our day, or that years later, six strangers are still mentioning him in their stories – but he left ripples in his wake.

Some ripples are small, like ruining or brightening someone’s day.  Some ripples are eternal, like having a child – creating a whole new person.  Some ripples are slight and barely palpable, like my friend’s voice that still plays in my head every time I see stormy waters:

“Look underneath the crashing waves Aniela, it’s a quiet, beautiful world down there.”

Some ripples are loud and thundering, like the abusive screams of a father.  And some ripples take a long time to reach us, so we don’t even recognize them as ripples – like old traditions that have now become “the way we’ve always done that”.  But whatever they may be, these are the ways we change the world daily, through little things and big things and everything in between.